WorldWideScience

Sample records for chain configuration integration

  1. Supply chain configuration concepts, solutions, and applications

    CERN Document Server

    Chandra, Charu

    2016-01-01

    This book discusses the models and tools available for solving configuration problems, emphasizes the value of model integration to obtain comprehensive and robust configuration decisions, proposes solutions for supply chain configuration in the presence of stochastic and dynamic factors, and illustrates application of the techniques discussed in applied studies. It is divided into four parts, which are devoted to defining the supply chain configuration problem and identifying key issues, describing solutions to various problems identified, proposing technologies for enabling supply chain confirmations, and discussing applied supply chain configuration problems. Its distinguishing features are: an explicit focus on the configuration problem an in-depth coverage of configuration models an emphasis on model integration and application of information modeling techniques in decision-making New to this edition is Part II: Technologies, which introduces readers to various technologies being utilized for supply chai...

  2. The Influence of Green Supply Chain Integration on Firm Performance: A Contingency and Configuration Perspective

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Yongtao Song

    2017-05-01

    Full Text Available This study investigates the impacts of three dimensions of green supply chain integration (GSCI on operational and financial performance, from both a contingency and a configuration perspective. From the contingency perspective, we used hierarchical regression to determine the impacts of individual GSCI dimensions (green internal, customer and supplier integration and their interactions on firm performance. From the configuration perspective, we used cluster analysis to develop patterns of GSCI, which were analyzed in terms of GSCI strength and balance. Analysis of variance was used to examine the relationship between GSCI pattern and firm performance. We used data collected from manufacturing firms in Shanxi, Shandong, Beijing, Guangdong and Jiangsu to test hypotheses. The findings from both the contingency and configuration perspective indicate that GSCI was related to both operational and financial performance. Furthermore, the interaction between green internal integration and green customer integration was positively related to both operational and financial performance, while the interaction between green internal integration and green supplier integration was negatively related to financial performance. The interaction between green customer integration and green supplier integration was positively related to financial performance.

  3. Cost optimization of biofuel production – The impact of scale, integration, transport and supply chain configurations

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    de Jong, S.A.|info:eu-repo/dai/nl/41200836X; Hoefnagels, E.T.A.|info:eu-repo/dai/nl/313935998; Wetterlund, Elisabeth; Pettersson, Karin; Faaij, André; Junginger, H.M.|info:eu-repo/dai/nl/202130703

    2017-01-01

    This study uses a geographically-explicit cost optimization model to analyze the impact of and interrelation between four cost reduction strategies for biofuel production: economies of scale, intermodal transport, integration with existing industries, and distributed supply chain configurations

  4. Global Value Chain Configuration

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Hernandez, Virginia; Pedersen, Torben

    2017-01-01

    modes chosen and the different ways of coordinating them. We also examine the outcomes of a global value chain configuration in terms of performance and upgrading. Our aim is to review the state of the art of these issues, identify research gaps and suggest new lines for future research that would...

  5. Qualtiy Issues in Project configured Supply Chains

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Koch, Christian; Larsen, Casper Schultz

    by configuration by project. In such a setting creating value for the customers and the enterprises becomes dependent of the ability to organise and coordinate in the supply chains. That the configuration is not always successful can be demonstrated by studying the emergence of failures occurring in the supply...... observation period. These were compiled and analysed. The economic consequences are calculated to be 8% of the production costs. The analysis of relations in the supply chain both show relations to materials and knowledge chains and their interaction. Most of the failures were generated in the knowledge...... stream and then occasionally transform into the material stream. The paper proposes initiatives to strengthen partnerships in supply chains and especially at engineer to order production. The contradiction between the permanent enterprise organisation potentially capable of handling purchasing...

  6. Decision-Making for Supply Chain Integration Supply Chain Integration

    CERN Document Server

    Lettice, Fiona; Durowoju, Olatunde

    2012-01-01

    Effective supply chain integration, and the tight co-ordination it creates, is an essential pre-requisite for successful supply chain management.  Decision-Making for Supply Chain Integration is a practical reference on recent research in the area of supply chain integration focusing on distributed decision-making problems. Recent applications of various decision-making tools for integrating supply chains are covered including chapters focusing on: •Supplier selection, pricing strategy and inventory decisions in multi-level supply chains, •RFID-enabled distributed decision-making, •Operational risk issues and time-critical decision-making for sensitive logistics nodes, Modelling end to end processes to improve supply chain integration, and •Integrated systems to improve service delivery and optimize resource use. Decision-Making for Supply Chain Integration provides an insight into the tools and methodologies of this field with support from real-life case studies demonstrating successful application ...

  7. Spin chain from membrane and the Neumann-Rosochatius integrable system

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bozhilov, P.

    2007-01-01

    We find membrane configurations in AdS 4 xS 7 , which correspond to the continuous limit of the SU(2) integrable spin chain, considered as a limit of the SU(3) spin chain, arising in N=4 SYM in four dimensions, dual to strings in AdS 5 xS 5 . We also discuss the relationship with the Neumann-Rosochatius integrable system at the level of Lagrangians, comparing the string and membrane cases

  8. Design of an Integrated Methodology for Analytical Design of Complex Supply Chains

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Shahid Rashid

    2012-01-01

    Full Text Available A literature review and gap analysis indentifies key limitations of industry best practice when modelling of supply chains. To address these limitations the paper reports on the conception and development of an integrated modelling methodology designed to underpin the analytical design of complex supply chains. The methodology is based upon a systematic deployment of EM, CLD, and SM techniques; the integration of which is achieved via common modelling concepts and decomposition principles. Thereby the methodology facilitates: (i graphical representation and description of key “processing”, “resourcing” and “work flow” properties of supply chain configurations; (ii behavioural exploration of currently configured supply chains, to facilitate reasoning about uncertain demand impacts on supply, make, delivery, and return processes; (iii predictive quantification about relative performances of alternative complex supply chain configurations, including risk assessments. Guidelines for the application of each step of the methodology are described. Also described are recommended data collection methods and expected modelling outcomes for each step. The methodology is being extensively case tested to quantify potential benefits & costs relative to current best industry practice. The paper reflects on preliminary benefits gained during industry based case study modelling and identifies areas of potential improvement.

  9. Sustainable supply chain design: a configurational approach.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Masoumik, S Maryam; Abdul-Rashid, Salwa Hanim; Olugu, Ezutah Udoncy; Raja Ghazilla, Raja Ariffin

    2014-01-01

    Designing the right supply chain that meets the requirements of sustainable development is a significant challenge. Although there are a considerable number of studies on issues relating to sustainable supply chain design (SSCD) in terms of designing the practices, processes, and structures, they have rarely demonstrated how these components can be aligned to form an effective sustainable supply chain (SSC). Considering this gap in the literature, this study adopts the configurational approach to develop a conceptual framework that could configure the components of a SSC. In this respect, a process-oriented approach is utilized to classify and harmonize the design components. A natural-resource-based view (NRBV) is adopted to determine the central theme to align the design components around. The proposed framework presents three types of SSC, namely, efficient SSC, innovative SSC, and reputed SSC. The study culminates with recommendations concerning the direction for future research.

  10. Sustainable Supply Chain Design: A Configurational Approach

    Science.gov (United States)

    Masoumik, S. Maryam; Raja Ghazilla, Raja Ariffin

    2014-01-01

    Designing the right supply chain that meets the requirements of sustainable development is a significant challenge. Although there are a considerable number of studies on issues relating to sustainable supply chain design (SSCD) in terms of designing the practices, processes, and structures, they have rarely demonstrated how these components can be aligned to form an effective sustainable supply chain (SSC). Considering this gap in the literature, this study adopts the configurational approach to develop a conceptual framework that could configure the components of a SSC. In this respect, a process-oriented approach is utilized to classify and harmonize the design components. A natural-resource-based view (NRBV) is adopted to determine the central theme to align the design components around. The proposed framework presents three types of SSC, namely, efficient SSC, innovative SSC, and reputed SSC. The study culminates with recommendations concerning the direction for future research. PMID:24523652

  11. The configurational approach in supply chain management (SCM) of steel goods

    OpenAIRE

    Dohn, K.

    2014-01-01

    A basic element of supply chain management is the holistic or system view. Following this perspective supply chain management has to analyse the supply chain as a whole and must not only concentrate on details or specific elements. The configurational approach is one method for realizing this. The article analyses how the configurational approach can be applied in SCM of steel goods.

  12. Architectures for Green-Field Supply Chain Integration: Supply Chain Integration Design

    OpenAIRE

    Radanliev, Petar

    2015-01-01

    This paper applied case study research to design architectures for green-field supply chain integration. The integration design is based on a case study of a supply chain integration of 5 companies, operating in different, but supply chain complimenting industry sectors. The case study research is applied to design and validate the architectures in a real world scenario. The supply\\ud chain integration architectures enable the conversion of individual into integrated strategies. The architect...

  13. The configurational approach in supply chain management (SCM of steel goods

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    K. Dohn

    2014-04-01

    Full Text Available A basic element of supply chain management is the holistic or system view. Following this perspective supply chain management has to analyse the supply chain as a whole and must not only concentrate on details or specific elements. The configurational approach is one method for realizing this. The article analyses how the configurational approach can be applied in SCM of steel goods.

  14. Process Modeling, Performance Analysis and Configuration Simulation in Integrated Supply Chain Network Design

    OpenAIRE

    Dong, Ming

    2001-01-01

    Supply chain management has been recently introduced to address the integration of organizational functions ranging from the ordering and receipt of raw materials throughout the manufacturing processes, to the distribution and delivery of products to the customer. Its application demonstrates that this idea enables organizations to achieve higher quality products, better customer service, and lower inventory cost. In order to achieve high performance, supply chain functions must operate ...

  15. Integration, Configuration and Coordination: from Project to Reality, at CERN

    CERN Document Server

    Barberan Marin, Maria; Bernardini, Marzia; Birtwistle, Thomas; Chemli, Samy; Corso, Jean-Pierre; Coupard, Julie; Foraz, Katy; Grillot, Serge; Muttoni, Yvon; Perrot, Anne-Laure

    2016-01-01

    The rigorous process in place at CERN to approve and follow-up the implementation of any modification of the LHC machine and its Injectors is presented in this paper. Our methodology implies the support of three teams, in charge of the configuration management, the scheduling and safety coordination, and the 3D integration studies. At each stage of the project the support of the three teams evolves, to provide the adequate support in the preparation phase and during the technical stops and long shutdowns. The formal roles and the processes used to govern the interaction of the Integration, Configuration and Coordination teams, and their relation to the project teams during the preparation and implementation phases, for activities to be performed in LHC and its injector chain are described and discussed.

  16. Using MDA for integration of heterogeneous components in software supply chains

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Hartmann, Johan Herman; Keren, Mila; Matsinger, Aart; Rubin, Julia; Trew, Tim; Yatzkar-Haham, Tali

    2013-01-01

    Software product lines are increasingly built using components from specialized suppliers. A company that is in the middle of a supply chain has to integrate components from its suppliers and offer (partially configured) products to its customers. To satisfy both the variability required by each

  17. Superlattice configurations in linear chain hydrocarbon binary mixtures

    Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

    Unknown

    Long-chain alkanes; binary mixtures; superlattices; discrete orientational changes. 1. Introduction ... tem and a model of superlattice configuration was proposed4, in terms of .... C18 system,4 the angle with value = 3⋅3° was seen to play an ...

  18. Distance between configurations in Markov chain Monte Carlo simulations

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fukuma, Masafumi; Matsumoto, Nobuyuki; Umeda, Naoya

    2017-12-01

    For a given Markov chain Monte Carlo algorithm we introduce a distance between two configurations that quantifies the difficulty of transition from one configuration to the other configuration. We argue that the distance takes a universal form for the class of algorithms which generate local moves in the configuration space. We explicitly calculate the distance for the Langevin algorithm, and show that it certainly has desired and expected properties as distance. We further show that the distance for a multimodal distribution gets dramatically reduced from a large value by the introduction of a tempering method. We also argue that, when the original distribution is highly multimodal with large number of degenerate vacua, an anti-de Sitter-like geometry naturally emerges in the extended configuration space.

  19. Port supply chain integration : analyzing biofuel supply chains

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Stevens, Leonie C. E.; Vis, Iris F. A.

    2016-01-01

    This paper focuses on port supply chain integration to strengthen operational and business performance. We provide a structured and comprehensive method to enable port supply chain integration and demonstrate its applicability to the biofuel supply chain. We define the value proposition, role,

  20. Improved Performance and Quality of Configurators by Receiving Real-Time Information from Suppliers

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Kristjansdottir, Katrin; Shafiee, Sara; Bonev, Martin

    with including suppliers’ product specifications as sub-models and how these can be addressed by integrating configurators across supply chains to receive real-time information from suppliers. Based on established literature on the illustrated technical integration of configurators across the supply chains......Companies providing customized products are increasingly applying configurators in order to support the sales and design activities. Yet, especially for engineer-to-order (ETO) companies such activities are often divided across different organizations, where throughout the configuration process...... product specification has to be retrieved across the supply chains. Therefore, it is required that relevant information from suppliers is included in the configuration process, either as sub-models or by integrating configurators across the supply chains. This study investigates the challenges associated...

  1. Symmetry chains for the atomic shell model. I. Classification of symmetry chains for atomic configurations

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Gruber, B.; Thomas, M.S.

    1980-01-01

    In this article the symmetry chains for the atomic shell model are classified in such a way that they lead from the group SU(4l+2) to its subgroup SOsub(J)(3). The atomic configurations (nl)sup(N) transform like irreducible representations of the group SU(4l+2), while SOsub(J)(3) corresponds to total angular momentum in SU(4l+2). The defining matrices for the various embeddings are given for each symmetry chain that is obtained. These matrices also define the projection onto the weight subspaces for the corresponding subsymmetries and thus relate the various quantum numbers and determine the branching of representations. It is shown in this article that three (interrelated) symmetry chains are obtained which correspond to L-S coupling, j-j coupling, and a seniority dependent coupling. Moreover, for l<=6 these chains are complete, i.e., there are no other chains but these. In articles to follow, the symmetry chains that lead from the group SO(8l+5) to SOsub(J)(3) will be discussed, with the entire atomic shell transforming like an irreducible representation of SO(8l+5). The transformation properties of the states of the atomic shell will be determined according to the various symmetry chains obtained. The symmetry lattice discussed in this article forms a sublattice of the larger symmetry lattice with SO(8l+5) as supergroup. Thus the transformation properties of the states of the atomic configurations, according to the various symmetry chains discussed in this article, will be obtained too. (author)

  2. The Reverse Supply Chain: Configuration, Integration and Profitability

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Gobbi, Chiara

    2008-01-01

    This thesis presents the results of a qualitative investigation that has been conducted in order to enhance knowledge of the reverse supply chain management field. Two aspects of the reverse flow need to be taken into consideration: the importance of introducing mechanisms that promote the circui......This thesis presents the results of a qualitative investigation that has been conducted in order to enhance knowledge of the reverse supply chain management field. Two aspects of the reverse flow need to be taken into consideration: the importance of introducing mechanisms that promote...... the circuitry of resources in order to protect the environment, and the increasing awareness that if strategically managed, the reverse chain represents an opportunity for profit generation and for improving the competitive position of a firm. In the first case, the main stakeholders are represented...... within the 27 Member States, reaching approximately 14-24 Kg. per inhabitant in Western Europe and the 6-12 Kg. per inhabitant in the New Member States. In the second case, the main stakeholder is the firm, the producer that has the possibility of exploring new opportunities to achieve a competitive...

  3. Integrated supply chain risk management

    OpenAIRE

    Riaan Bredell; Jackie Walters

    2007-01-01

    Integrated supply chain risk management (ISCRM) has become indispensable to the theory and practice of supply chain management. The economic and political realities of the modern world require not only a different approach to supply chain management, but also bold steps to secure supply chain performance and sustainable wealth creation. Integrated supply chain risk management provides supply chain organisations with a level of insight into their supply chains yet to be achieved. If correctly ...

  4. Integrated supply chain risk management

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Riaan Bredell

    2007-11-01

    Full Text Available Integrated supply chain risk management (ISCRM has become indispensable to the theory and practice of supply chain management. The economic and political realities of the modern world require not only a different approach to supply chain management, but also bold steps to secure supply chain performance and sustainable wealth creation. Integrated supply chain risk management provides supply chain organisations with a level of insight into their supply chains yet to be achieved. If correctly applied, this process may optimise management decision-making and assist in the protection and enhancement of shareholder value.

  5. The Configuration Of Supply Chain Agritourism To Improve The Performance With Dynamic Programming

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sahnaz Ubud

    2015-09-01

    Full Text Available The purposes of this research is to implementation about  the configuration of Supply Chain Agritourism in Mekarsari Tours Garden and result a decision making  which must be done by top level management about their supply chain configuration. Because now Mekarsari, the biggest fruit garden in the world, have a lot of type of fruit which must be supply for the customer depend on the season with on time. So Mekarsari must know about their configuration from supplier to customer to improve their performance. The Respondents  for this research is selected based on the results of supply chain maping from the worker in the garden, the top level management until the end customer. Supply chian network is formed consisting of farm workers to the end customers, especially those located in the tourist are of green land zone.  The type of data is displayed in a supply chain modeling approach is to use the dynamic system. It’s consists of numeric data, the written data and mental models.  That data is collected and processed into a design model. The design model is using system dynamics methodology. In compiling the system dynamics model has been used software Vensim Professional Academic Ventana 5.7. The result of this research is a configuration of Supply Chain Agritourism which is developed from the supplier until the end customer in Mekarsari tours Garden. From the Dynamic Programming, the result is a decision making which must be done by the top level management to improve the supply chain performance, especially in the green land zone.

  6. International Space Station Configuration Analysis and Integration

    Science.gov (United States)

    Anchondo, Rebekah

    2016-01-01

    Ambitious engineering projects, such as NASA's International Space Station (ISS), require dependable modeling, analysis, visualization, and robotics to ensure that complex mission strategies are carried out cost effectively, sustainably, and safely. Learn how Booz Allen Hamilton's Modeling, Analysis, Visualization, and Robotics Integration Center (MAVRIC) team performs engineering analysis of the ISS Configuration based primarily on the use of 3D CAD models. To support mission planning and execution, the team tracks the configuration of ISS and maintains configuration requirements to ensure operational goals are met. The MAVRIC team performs multi-disciplinary integration and trade studies to ensure future configurations meet stakeholder needs.

  7. Risk and Work Configuration Management as a Function of Integrated Safety Management

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lana Buehrer; Michele Kelly; Fran Lemieux; Fred Williams

    2007-01-01

    National Security Technologies, LLC (NSTec), has established a work management program and corresponding electronic Facilities and Operations Management Information System (e-FOM) to implement Integrated Safety Management (ISM). The management of work scopes, the identification of hazards, and the establishment of implementing controls are reviewed and approved through electronic signatures. Through the execution of the program and the implementation of the electronic system, NSTec staff work within controls and utilize feedback and improvement process. The Integrated Work Control Manual further implements the five functions of ISM at the Activity level. By adding the Risk and Work Configuration Management program, NSTec establishes risk acceptance (business and physical) for liabilities within the performance direction and work management processes. Requirements, roles, and responsibilities are specifically identified in the program while e-FOM provides the interface and establishes the flowdown from the Safety Chain to work and facilities management processes to company work-related directives, and finally to Subject Matter Expert concurrence. The Program establishes, within the defined management structure, management levels for risk identification, risk mitigation (controls), and risk acceptance (business and physical) within the Safety Chain of Responsibility. The Program also implements Integrated Safeguards and Security Management within the NSTec Safety Chain of Responsibility. Once all information has been entered into e-FOM, approved, and captured as data, the information becomes searchable and sortable by hazard, location, organization, mitigating controls, etc

  8. Configuration of supply chains in emerging industries: a multiple-case study in the wave-and-tidal energy industry

    OpenAIRE

    Bjørgum, Øyvind; Netland, Torbjørn H.

    2017-01-01

    Companies in emerging industries face particular challenges in configuring effective supply chains. In this paper, we build on transaction cost economics to explore how supply chains can be configured in emerging industries. We focus on two key aspects of supply chain configuration: the make-or-buy decision and the strength of the ties between a focal firm and its suppliers. We utilise a multiple-case study methodology, including seven start-up companies in the emerging wave-and-tidal energy ...

  9. Achieving Supply Chain Integration within Construction Industry

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Peter McDermotti

    2012-11-01

    Full Text Available The main driver behind the adoption of supply chain management (SCM philosophy into the construction industry was the successes within other industry sectors. SCM can be defined as network of different organisations, linked upstream and downstream in a chain, aiming to produce quality and value in the services and products for the end consumers through integrated processes and activities. In order to achieve the optimised level of integration of the whole supply chain, the industry has responded in various forms. This paper will discuss different initiatives by the researchers,construction industry,and the UK government in order to achieve optimal level of supply chain integration. This paper will discuss the concept of aggregation,and also look at other supply chain integration related concepts including client-led supply chain, knowledge about the whole supply chain, effects of procurement on integration of supply chain, etc. The paper will give a brief overview and initial findings of a project undertaken by the authors, and also include examples from the UK construction industry on bundling of the supply and demand.

  10. Integrating product design into the supply chain

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Khan, Omera; Stolte, Terje; Creazza, Alessandro

    2016-01-01

    into the supply chain. Originality/Value: This paper provides novel insights to both practitioners and researchers. For practitioners detailed recommendations are given on how they can maximise benefits through integrating product design into the supply chain. The RBV has been harnessed to highlight how......Purpose: The aim of the research is to illustrate how companies can create competitive capabilities through integration of product design into the supply chain. In doing so the paper reveals the challenges and the opportunities that companies face when integrating product design and supply chain...... of opportunities and challenges when integrating product design and the supply chain and subsequently a step-by-step guide is developed to address these. Practical Implications: The research provides key recommendations to companies on how to create competitive capabilities by integrating product design...

  11. Integrating product design into the supply chain

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Khan, Omera; Stolte, Terje; Creazza, Alessandro

    2016-01-01

    Purpose: The aim of the research is to illustrate how companies can create competitive capabilities through integration of product design into the supply chain. In doing so the paper reveals the challenges and the opportunities that companies face when integrating product design and supply chain...... of opportunities and challenges when integrating product design and the supply chain and subsequently a step-by-step guide is developed to address these. Practical Implications: The research provides key recommendations to companies on how to create competitive capabilities by integrating product design...... into the supply chain. Originality/Value: This paper provides novel insights to both practitioners and researchers. For practitioners detailed recommendations are given on how they can maximise benefits through integrating product design into the supply chain. The RBV has been harnessed to highlight how...

  12. Ranking of integration factors within supply chains of forward and backward types - recommendations from researches

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Bernd Hentschel

    2015-06-01

    Full Text Available Background: Integration trends are one of main determinants of the development of modern logistics. After the period of interest focused mainly on supply chains realizing one-way flows only, at present there is a time for supply chains characterized by two-way flows, realizing at the same time both forward and backward flows. The possibility of various configurations of such chains requires identification of integration factors and determination of their influence on the results of the whole supply chain. Experiences of the science as well as the practice of supply chains show the urgent need of learning of reasons of the integration within supply chains of the two-way type.  Material and methods: The researches on modeling and simulation of integration processes within supply chains of forward and backward type were carried out in the environment of iGrafx Process 2013 for Six Sigma. The empirical material obtained in these researches was put to the statistical analysis by the used of Minitab 17. The identification of the significance of differences was made with the help of analysis of variance ANOVA. Additionally the analysis of differences in form of absolute averages was made.  The following measures are main ones for the evaluation of the integration of a supply chain of forward and backward types: cashflow, profitability, service level.  Results: 8 192 simulation experiments were made for 6 integration factors: accessibility of recycled materials, production planning, stock management, integration of transport, unification of packing materials and optimization of the material flow. Based on the analysis of the significance and values of differences, the results of the influence of each integration factor on global results of supply chains of forward and backward type were obtained. They were used to prepare the ranking of integration factors. The main factors, forming the integration shape of two-way supply chains were: stock

  13. Information Technologies and Supply Chain Integration

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Lemoine, W; Mortensen, Ole

    integration. This study illustrates, from an empirical point of view, the problems associ-ated to SC integration among European firms operating in global/international markets. The focus is on the relationship between two echelons in the supply chain: manufacturers and their transport and logistics service......The goal of the Supply Chain Management process is to create value for customers, stakeholders and all supply chain members, through the integration of different processes like manufacturing flow management, customer service and order fulfillment. However, many firms fail in the path of achieving...... integration. Our results show that the current business integra-tion practices between manufacturers and TLSPs are primarily restricted to some sub-processes in three key SC processes: Customer Service Management, order fulfillment and backwards logistics. The use of IT tools to support the integration has...

  14. Supply chain configuration with co-ordinated product, process and logistics decisions : an approach based on Petri nets

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Zhang, Lianfeng (Linda); You, Xiao; Jiao, Jianxin (Roger); Helo, Petri

    2009-01-01

    Supply chain configuration lends itself to be an effective means to deal with product differentiation and customisation throughout a supply chain network. It essentially entails the instantiation of a generic supply chain network to specific supply chains in accordance with diverse customer

  15. Supply Chain Systems Architecture and Engineering Design: Green-field Supply Chain Integration

    OpenAIRE

    Radanliev, P

    2015-01-01

    This paper developed a new theory for supply chain architecture, and engineering design that enables integration of the business and supply chain strategies. The architecture starts with individual supply chain participants and derives insights into the complex and abstract concept of green-field integration design. The paper presented a conceptual system for depicting the interactions between business and supply chain strategy engineering. The system examines the decisions made when engineer...

  16. The Complementary Perspective of System of Systems in Collaboration, Integration, and Logistics: A Value-Chain Based Paradigm of Supply Chain Management

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Raed Jaradat

    2017-10-01

    Full Text Available The importance and complexity of the problems associated with coordinating multiple organizations to configure value propositions for customers has drawn the attention of multiple disciplines. In an effort to clarify and consolidate terms, this conceptual research examines both supply chain management (SCM and system of systems (SoS literature to postulate, from a value-chain perspective, what roles integration and collaboration play in helping supply chains satisfy customer requirements. A literature review analysis was used to identify the commonalities and differences between supply chain management and system of systems approaches to examining interfirm coordination of value creation efforts. Although a framework of integration and collaboration roles in value creation is proposed, further empirical testing of the concept is required to substantiate initial conclusions. The concepts proposed may help clarify where strategic and operational managers need to focus their efforts in coordinating supply chain member firms. The incorporation of SoS engineering into the supply chain field will draw the linkage between the constituent principles, and concepts of Systems Theory as appropriate for the supply chain management field. This is the first effort to reconcile two separate but parallel scholarship streams examining the coordination of multiple organizations in value creation. This research shows that there are some methodologies, principles, and methods from the SoS field that can supplement supply chain management research. Mainly due to a unit of analysis issue, systems based approaches have not been in the mainstream of supply chain management field development.

  17. Achieving competitiveness through supply chain integration

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Arlbjørn, Jan Stentoft; Wong, Chee Yew; Seerup, Søren

    2007-01-01

    Supply chain development can take place in several steps, from functional optimisation, then internal integration, dyadic integration and last, integration in chains and networks. Before external integration gives true value, order in own house must be achieved. This paper presents a case study...... of a Danish manufacturer that has gone through a major transformation process, and the paper intends to discuss how such a Business Process Reengineering (BPR) project aimed to achieve internal integration. The paper demonstrates how improved competitiveness can be obtained through a synchronous...

  18. User Involvement as a Configurable Integrated Product Delivery

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Vibæk, Kasper Sánchez

    2009-01-01

    as a configurable integrated product delivery then the architect can – using slightly provocatively a term from the production industry – be seen a configuration manager of processes shaping our physical surroundings. Products focusing on standardisation and mass customisation of the building process rather than......Integrated product deliveries as known from the product industry are beginning to emerge in construction. These are normally considered as physical systems that can be configured and customised for a specific delivery to form part of a unique construction project and help to reduce the complexity...... relevant field for development of customisable integrated product deliveries in construction. This development and its causes challenge the traditional role of the architect as the centre point in the creation of physical wholes or entireties. If user involvement, as argued, can be considered...

  19. Spin chains and Gustafson's integrals

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Derkachov, S.E; Manashov, A.N.; Regensburg Univ.

    2016-12-01

    The Gustafson's integrals are the multidimensional generalization of the classical Mellin-Barnes integrals. We show that some of these integrals arise from relations between matrix elements in the Sklyanin's representation of Separated Variables in the spin chain models. We also present several new integrals.

  20. Complexity of Configurators Relative to Integrations and Field of Application

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Kristjansdottir, Katrin; Shafiee, Sara; Battistello, Loris

    . Moreover, configurators are commonly integrated to various IT systems within companies. The complexity of configurators is an important factor when it comes to performance, development and maintenance of the systems. A direct comparison of the complexity based on the different application...... integrations to other IT systems. The research method adopted in the paper is based on a survey followed with interviews where the unit of analysis is based on operating configurators within a company.......Configurators are applied widely to automate the specification processes at companies. The literature describes the industrial application of configurators supporting both sales and engineering processes, where configurators supporting the engineering processes are described more challenging...

  1. Stereoselective total synthesis of Oxylipin from open chain gluco-configured building block.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Borkar, Santosh Ramdas; Aidhen, Indrapal Singh

    2017-04-18

    Total synthesis of naturally occurring Oxylipin has been achieved from open chain gluco-configured building block which is readily assembled from inexpensive and commercially available D-(+)-gluconolactone. Grignard reaction and Wittig olefination reactions are key steps for the requisite CC bond formation. Copyright © 2017. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

  2. Supply chain integration, risk management and manufacturing flexibility

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Chaudhuri, Atanu; Boer, Harry; Taran, Yariv

    2018-01-01

    , respectively, and manufacturing flexibility. Design/methodology/approach – Using hierarchical regression, data are analyzed from a sample of 343 manufacturing plants in Asia collected in 2013-2014 as part of the International Manufacturing Strategy Survey (IMSS VI). Findings – Internal integration and supply......Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate the impact of internal integration, external integration and supply chain risk management on manufacturing flexibility, and the moderating effect of supply chain risk management on the relationships between internal and external integration...... chain risk management have a direct effect on manufacturing flexibility. Supply chain risk management moderates the relationship between external integration and flexibility. Research limitations/implications – Further research is needed to generalize beyond the flexibility performance of discrete...

  3. Integrated Simulation Of Supply Chain Management

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    N.Manikandan

    2013-06-01

    Full Text Available Nowadays, manufacturers face the challenge of reducing manufacturing cycle time, delivery lead time and inventory reduction. Every organization has its own objectives and its own way of decision making processes. Because of the conflictions among the objectives of each organization and non-integrated decision making processes, there has been a need for a new mechanism, which help to resolve those conflictions and to integrate processes. In the early 1990s, management is a process of integrating and utilizing suppliers, manufacturers, warehouses and retailers, so that goods are produced and delivered at the right quantities and at the right time while minimizing costs as well as satisfying customer requirements. Managing the entire supply chain becomes a key factor for the successful business. Organizations now realize that non-integrated manufacturing processes, nonintegrated distribution processes and poor relationships with suppliers and customers are in adequate for their success. The supply chain areas are affected by the organization’s plan. The organization plan’s impact on the supply chain areas cannot be predicted before its execution. Simulation paves way to evaluate the performance of plans before the execution of the plan. This paper describes the effort of developing a simulation model for the supply chain management in an industry. This article discusses the requirement of supply chain simulation modeling.

  4. Opportunities and realities of supply chain integration

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    van Donk, Dirk Pieter; Akkerman, Renzo; van der Vaart, Taco

    2008-01-01

    Purpose: The purpose of the paper is to investigate the limitations and barriers for supply chain integration that food manufacturers experience and to highlight their planning and scheduling problems. Possible ways to cope with these are offered. Methodology: The paper is theoretical/conceptual ......Purpose: The purpose of the paper is to investigate the limitations and barriers for supply chain integration that food manufacturers experience and to highlight their planning and scheduling problems. Possible ways to cope with these are offered. Methodology: The paper is theoretical...... of solutions that might assist production managers in better understanding their situation and thinking about improvements. Originality/Value of the paper: The paper introduces buyer focus, shared resources and the limitations of supply chain integration into the field of food supply chains....

  5. Integrating configuration workflows with project management system

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Nilsen, Dimitri; Weber, Pavel

    2014-01-01

    The complexity of the heterogeneous computing resources, services and recurring infrastructure changes at the GridKa WLCG Tier-1 computing center require a structured approach to configuration management and optimization of interplay between functional components of the whole system. A set of tools deployed at GridKa, including Puppet, Redmine, Foreman, SVN and Icinga, provides the administrative environment giving the possibility to define and develop configuration workflows, reduce the administrative effort and improve sustainable operation of the whole computing center. In this presentation we discuss the developed configuration scenarios implemented at GridKa, which we use for host installation, service deployment, change management procedures, service retirement etc. The integration of Puppet with a project management tool like Redmine provides us with the opportunity to track problem issues, organize tasks and automate these workflows. The interaction between Puppet and Redmine results in automatic updates of the issues related to the executed workflow performed by different system components. The extensive configuration workflows require collaboration and interaction between different departments like network, security, production etc. at GridKa. Redmine plugins developed at GridKa and integrated in its administrative environment provide an effective way of collaboration within the GridKa team. We present the structural overview of the software components, their connections, communication protocols and show a few working examples of the workflows and their automation.

  6. System Dynamics Model for VMI&TPL Integrated Supply Chains

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Guo Li

    2013-01-01

    Full Text Available This paper establishes VMI-APIOBPCS II model by extending VMI-APIOBPCS model from serial supply chain to distribution supply chain. Then TPL is introduced to this VMI distribution supply chain, and operational framework and process of VMI&TPL integrated supply chain are analyzed deeply. On this basis VMI-APIOBPCS II model is then changed to VMI&TPL-APIOBPCS model and VMI&TPL integrated operation mode is simulated. Finally, compared with VMI-APIOBPCS model, the TPL’s important role of goods consolidation and risk sharing in VMI&TPL integrated supply chain is analyzed in detail from the aspects of bullwhip effect, inventory level, service level, and so on.

  7. Decision support for green supply chain operations by integrating dynamic simulation and LCA indicators: diaper case study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Adhitya, Arief; Halim, Iskandar; Srinivasan, Rajagopalan

    2011-12-01

    As the issue of environmental sustainability is becoming an important business factor, companies are now looking for decision support tools to assess the fuller picture of the environmental impacts associated with their manufacturing operations and supply chain (SC) activities. Lifecycle assessment (LCA) is widely used to measure the environmental consequences assignable to a product. However, it is usually limited to a high-level snapshot of the environmental implications over the product value chain without consideration of the dynamics arising from the multitiered structure and the interactions along the SC. This paper proposes a framework for green supply chain management by integrating a SC dynamic simulation and LCA indicators to evaluate both the economic and environmental impacts of various SC decisions such as inventories, distribution network configuration, and ordering policy. The advantages of this framework are demonstrated through an industrially motivated case study involving diaper production. Three distinct scenarios are evaluated to highlight how the proposed approach enables integrated decision support for green SC design and operation.

  8. Yang-Mills correlation functions from integrable spin chains

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Roiban, Radu; Volovich, Anastasia

    2004-01-01

    The relation between the dilatation operator of N = 4 Yang-Mills theory and integrable spin chains makes it possible to compute the one-loop anomalous dimensions of all operators in the theory. In this paper we show how to apply the technology of integrable spin chains to the calculation of Yang-Mills correlation functions by expressing them in terms of matrix elements of spin operators on the corresponding spin chain. We illustrate this method with several examples in the SU(2) sector described by the XXX 1/2 chain. (author)

  9. The role of the supply chain executive in supply chain integration: a behavioral approach

    OpenAIRE

    ELENA REVILLA; LUIS GOMEZ - MEJIA

    2008-01-01

    Applying a behavioural approach of agency theory, this paper aimed to identify the most appropriate employment and compensation system (ECS) for supply chain executives in order to foster supply chain integration. We attempted to develop a novel approach of how encourages supply chain integration from the perspective of managerial incentives, an enabler that has not been analyzed in the literature. The paper presents the analysis of three sources of risk bearing - compensation risk, employmen...

  10. On integrable Hamiltonians for higher spin XXZ chain

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bytsko, Andrei G.

    2003-01-01

    Integrable Hamiltonians for higher spin periodic XXZ chains are constructed in terms of the spin generators; explicit examples for spins up to (3/2) are given. Relations between Hamiltonians for some U q (sl 2 )-symmetric and U(1)-symmetric universal r-matrices are studied; their properties are investigated. A certain modification of the higher spin periodic chain Hamiltonian is shown to be an integrable U q (sl 2 )-symmetric Hamiltonian for an open chain

  11. Integrated Management System, Configuration and Document Control for Research Reactors

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Steynberg, B.J.; Bruyn, J.F. du

    2017-01-01

    An integrated management system is a single management framework establishing all the processes necessary for the organisation to address all its goals and objectives. Very often only quality, environment and health & safety goals are included when referred to an integrated management system. However, within the research reactor environment such system should include goals pertinent to economic, environmental, health, operational, quality, safeguards, safety, security, and social considerations. One of the important objectives of an integrated management is to create the environment for a healthy safety culture. Configuration management is a disciplined process that involves both management and technical direction to establish and document the design requirements and the physical configuration of the research reactor and to ensure that they remain consistent with each other and the documentation. Configuration is the combination of the physical, functional, and operational characteristics of the structures, systems, and components (SSCs) or parts of the research reactor, operation, or activity. The basic objectives and general principles of configuration management are the same for all research reactors. The objectives of configuration management are to: a) Establish consistency among design requirements, physical configuration, and documentation (including analyses, drawings, and procedures) for the research reactor; b) Maintain this consistency throughout the life of the research reactor, particularly as changes are being made; and c) Retain confidence in the safety of the research reactor. The key elements needed to manage the configuration of research reactors are design requirements, work control, change control, document control, and configuration management assessments. The objective of document control is to ensure that only the most recently approved versions of documents are used in the process of operating, maintaining, and modifying the research reactor

  12. Integration of vaccine supply chains with other health commodity supply chains: a framework for decision making.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yadav, Prashant; Lydon, Patrick; Oswald, Julianna; Dicko, Modibo; Zaffran, Michel

    2014-11-28

    One of the primary objectives of National Immunization Programs is to strengthen and optimize immunization supply chains so that vaccines are delivered to the end recipients effectively, efficiently and sustainably. As a result of larger investments in global health and a wider portfolio of vaccines, global agencies are recognizing the need for vaccine supply chains to operate at their most optimal levels. Integration with other supply chains is often presented as a strategy to improve efficiency. However, it remains unclear if the proposed benefits from integration of vaccine supply chains with other supply chains will outweigh the costs. This paper provides a framework for deciding where such integration offers the most significant benefits. It also cautions about the pitfalls of integration as a one size fits all strategy. It also highlights the need for systematic collection of cost and efficiency data in order to understand the value of integration and other such initiatives. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  13. On Darboux-integrable semi-discrete chains

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Habibullin, Ismagil; Sakieva, Alfia; Zheltukhina, Natalya

    2010-01-01

    A differential-difference equation d/dx t (n+1,x) = f(x,t(n,x),t(n+1,x),d/dx t (n,x)) with unknown t(n, x) depending on the continuous and discrete variables x and n is studied. We call an equation of such kind Darboux integrable if there exist two functions (called integrals) F and I of a finite number of dynamical variables such that D x F = 0 and DI = I, where D x is the operator of total differentiation with respect to x and D is the shift operator: Dp(n) = p(n + 1). It is proved that the integrals can be brought to some canonical form. A method of construction of an explicit formula for a general solution to Darboux-integrable chains is discussed and such solutions are found for a class of chains.

  14. Boosting nearest-neighbour to long-range integrable spin chains

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bargheer, Till; Beisert, Niklas; Loebbert, Florian

    2008-01-01

    We present an integrability-preserving recursion relation for the explicit construction of long-range spin chain Hamiltonians. These chains are generalizations of the Haldane–Shastry and Inozemtsev models and they play an important role in recent advances in string/gauge duality. The method is based on arbitrary nearest-neighbour integrable spin chains and it sheds light on the moduli space of deformation parameters. We also derive the closed chain asymptotic Bethe equations. (letter)

  15. Supply chain integration framework using literature review

    OpenAIRE

    Alfalla-Luque, Rafaela; Medina-Lopez, Carmen; Dey, Prasanta K.

    2013-01-01

    Definitions and measures of supply chain integration (SCI) are diverse. More empirical research, with clear definition and appropriate measures are needed. The purpose of this article is to identify dimensions and variables for SCI and develop an integrated framework to facilitate this. A literature review of the relevant academic papers in international journals in Logistics, Supply Chain Management and Operations Management for the period 1995-2009 has been undertaken. This study reveals th...

  16. Integrated Flight and Propulsion Controls for Advanced Aircraft Configurations

    Science.gov (United States)

    Merrill, Walter; Garg, Sanjay

    1995-01-01

    The research vision of the NASA Lewis Research Center in the area of integrated flight and propulsion controls technologies is described. In particular the Integrated Method for Propulsion and Airframe Controls developed at the Lewis Research Center is described including its application to an advanced aircraft configuration. Additionally, future research directions in integrated controls are described.

  17. An IoT-enabled supply chain integration framework : empirical case studies

    OpenAIRE

    Wakenshaw, Susan Y. L.; Maple, Carsten; Chen, Daqiang; Micillo, Rosario

    2017-01-01

    Supply chain integration is crucial for supply chain performance, particularly in industry 4.0. With the proliferation of Internet of Things (IoT) and the use of cyber-physical systems, supply chain integration needs to be greatly enhanced. In this paper, we explore supply integration (process and application) in the supply chain network enabled by IoT. Using the case study method, we investigate technical and business applications of IoT in supply chains and how it can interface with the pro...

  18. The configuration development and integration of the TPX device

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Brown, T.G.

    1993-01-01

    The TPX configuration was designed to meet the physics objectives and subsystem requirements in an arrangement that allowed access for remote maintenance. The steady state operations of TPX favored the use of superconducting magnets for both the toroidal and poloidal field systems. The desire to react the TF centering and overturning forces in a simplified wedged system lead to a TF case concept incorporating ''two-coil'' TF modules in a 90 degrees four-coil quadrant arrangement. Low ripple and tangential plasma access to accommodate TFTR neutral beams were leading factors in determining the size and number of TF coils. The need for a large amount of space for the divertor and first wall component coolant services further influenced the shaping of the vacuum vessel. Additional configuration influences included: low activation considerations, diverter pumping, remote maintenance requirements, service access and compatibility with the existing TFTR text cell facility. The TPX configuration development and integration process has evolved through the conceptual design period and is now ready to enter the Preliminary Design Phase of the project. This paper describes the status of the configuration development and integration of the major TPX tokamak subsystems components

  19. Differential neural network configuration during human path integration

    Science.gov (United States)

    Arnold, Aiden E. G. F; Burles, Ford; Bray, Signe; Levy, Richard M.; Iaria, Giuseppe

    2014-01-01

    Path integration is a fundamental skill for navigation in both humans and animals. Despite recent advances in unraveling the neural basis of path integration in animal models, relatively little is known about how path integration operates at a neural level in humans. Previous attempts to characterize the neural mechanisms used by humans to visually path integrate have suggested a central role of the hippocampus in allowing accurate performance, broadly resembling results from animal data. However, in recent years both the central role of the hippocampus and the perspective that animals and humans share similar neural mechanisms for path integration has come into question. The present study uses a data driven analysis to investigate the neural systems engaged during visual path integration in humans, allowing for an unbiased estimate of neural activity across the entire brain. Our results suggest that humans employ common task control, attention and spatial working memory systems across a frontoparietal network during path integration. However, individuals differed in how these systems are configured into functional networks. High performing individuals were found to more broadly express spatial working memory systems in prefrontal cortex, while low performing individuals engaged an allocentric memory system based primarily in the medial occipito-temporal region. These findings suggest that visual path integration in humans over short distances can operate through a spatial working memory system engaging primarily the prefrontal cortex and that the differential configuration of memory systems recruited by task control networks may help explain individual biases in spatial learning strategies. PMID:24808849

  20. A hybrid approach for integrated healthcare cooperative purchasing and supply chain configuration.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rego, Nazaré; Claro, João; Pinho de Sousa, Jorge

    2014-12-01

    This paper presents an innovative and flexible approach for recommending the number, size and composition of purchasing groups, for a set of hospitals willing to cooperate, while minimising their shared supply chain costs. This approach makes the financial impact of the various cooperation alternatives transparent to the group and the individual participants, opening way to a negotiation process concerning the allocation of the cooperation costs and gains. The approach was developed around a hybrid Variable Neighbourhood Search (VNS)/Tabu Search metaheuristic, resulting in a flexible tool that can be applied to purchasing groups with different characteristics, namely different operative and market circumstances, and to supply chains with different topologies and atypical cost characteristics. Preliminary computational results show the potential of the approach in solving a broad range of problems.

  1. Integrating developing country manufacturing industries into global supply chain

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Fasika Bete Georgise

    2014-01-01

    Full Text Available Purpose: Due to globalization of manufacturing activities, the arena of competition and competitiveness advantage is moving from firms towards supply chains and networks. With the recent advancement of information and communication technologies this participation are becoming as common business practice in developed countries firms. Companies were more integrated into the world market for the global nature of the sourcing, manufacturing and distribution. These changes create both challenges and opportunities for the manufacturing industries in developing countries. The objective of this paper is to examine the level of inter-organizational and intra-organizational supply chain integration practices in developing country, Ethiopia.Design/methodology/approach: An industrial questionnaires survey was used to collect the current practices of the manufacturing industries in Ethiopia as an example of the developing countries. Descriptive statistics is primarily used for the analysis.Findings: Results show a low level of supply chain relationship both in intra and inter organizational supply chain integration level among members. Accordingly, such issues require much attention to facilitate a greater integration within the supply chains in the Ethiopian manufacturing industries.Research limitations/implications: The paper focuses on examining the practices of Ethiopian manufacturing industries empirical data. The interpretation of results should be taken with prudence.Originality/Value: The manufacturing industry in developing countries (MIDC has been a part of the global supply chains for long time as a supplier of raw material and manufacturer of primary products. Currently, the MIDC is trying to access the different markets segment of the world even with new products starting from their local market to the complex and dynamic international market. Nevertheless, their supply chains are inefficient and hence, their competitiveness level far from the

  2. Spatial Configuration of Macromolecular Chains

    Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

    where C reaches a constant value with increase in n for any series of finitely flexible chains. ... entirely free of overlaps between any pair of segments is very small for a long chain. The attrition of .... Excerpts froin Flory's Nobel Banquet Speech.

  3. ICAROUS: Integrated Configurable Architecture for Unmanned Systems

    Science.gov (United States)

    Consiglio, Maria C.

    2016-01-01

    NASA's Unmanned Aerial System (UAS) Traffic Management (UTM) project aims at enabling near-term, safe operations of small UAS vehicles in uncontrolled airspace, i.e., Class G airspace. A far-term goal of UTM research and development is to accommodate the expected rise in small UAS traffic density throughout the National Airspace System (NAS) at low altitudes for beyond visual line-of-sight operations. This video describes a new capability referred to as ICAROUS (Integrated Configurable Algorithms for Reliable Operations of Unmanned Systems), which is being developed under the auspices of the UTM project. ICAROUS is a software architecture comprised of highly assured algorithms for building safety-centric, autonomous, unmanned aircraft applications. Central to the development of the ICAROUS algorithms is the use of well-established formal methods to guarantee higher levels of safety assurance by monitoring and bounding the behavior of autonomous systems. The core autonomy-enabling capabilities in ICAROUS include constraint conformance monitoring and autonomous detect and avoid functions. ICAROUS also provides a highly configurable user interface that enables the modular integration of mission-specific software components.

  4. Configuration Management Program - a part of Integrated Management System

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Mancev, Bogomil; Yordanova, Vanja; Nenkova, Boyka

    2014-01-01

    The recently issued International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) publications (GS-R-3, GS-G-3.1 and GS-G-3.5) regarding Management Systems for Facilities and Activities define requirements for creation, introduction, evaluation and continuously improvement of the Management System, which unifies the safety, health, environment, security, quality and economic elements. According to GS-R-3 the Integrated Management System is based on defined processes identified in the enterprises: Managing, Basic and Supporting processes. At implementation of their activities, the organizations often apply other standards in their interrelations with suppliers and the parties concerned - ISO 9001:2008, ISO 14001:2004 and OHSAS 18001:2007, regarding quality, environment and occupational health and safety management. The integration of the standards of both series ensure the observance of the common management principles that reflect the best practices of management as leadership, participation of the people, process approach, continuously improvement, systematical approach to the management and approach based on facts used at the making decisions. The main objective of the Integrated Management System introduction is to ensure safety considering the influence of all additional impacts taken together. The Integrated Management System is based on the process approach at implementation of the activities in nuclear power plant. The transition to the process oriented approach require long period of time, during which the distribution of the responsibilities is optimized up to the level that will satisfy the requirements, reach and maintain the stipulated objectives. The Configuration Management (CM) is an integrated management process by means of which conformity between design requirements, physical configuration and the plant documentation is ascertained and maintained during the entire life cycle of the facility. Processes within configuration management are not isolated, but are part of

  5. Cost of Oil and Biomass Supply Shocks under Different Biofuel Supply Chain Configurations

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Uria Martinez, Rocio [ORNL; Leiby, Paul Newsome [ORNL; Brown, Maxwell L. [National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL)

    2018-04-01

    This analysis estimates the cost of selected oil and biomass supply shocks for producers and consumers in the light-duty vehicle fuel market under various supply chain configurations using a mathematical programing model, BioTrans. The supply chain configurations differ by whether they include selected flexibility levers: multi-feedstock biorefineries; advanced biomass logistics; and the ability to adjust ethanol content of low-ethanol fuel blends, from E10 to E15 or E05. The simulated scenarios explore market responses to supply shocks including substitution between gasoline and ethanol, substitution between different sources of ethanol supply, biorefinery capacity additions or idling, and price adjustments. Welfare effects for the various market participants represented in BioTrans are summarized into a net shock cost measure. As oil accounts for a larger fraction of fuel by volume, its supply shocks are costlier than biomass supply shocks. Corn availability and the high cost of adding biorefinery capacity limit increases in ethanol use during gasoline price spikes. During shocks that imply sudden decreases in the price of gasoline, the renewable fuel standard (RFS) biofuel blending mandate limits the extent to which flexibility can be exercised to reduce ethanol use. The selected flexibility levers are most useful in response to cellulosic biomass supply shocks.

  6. Spatial Configuration of Macromolecular Chains

    Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

    where C reaches a constant value with increase in n for any series of finitely flexible chains. The smoothed density within the domain of a linear macromolecule having a molecular weight of 100,000 or greater (i.e., n > 1000) is low, only on the order of one percent or less of the space being occupied by chain segments.

  7. AN EXPLORATORY APPROACH TO INTEGRATION OF BUSINESS PRACTICES IN SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Constangioara Alexandru

    2014-07-01

    After reviewing the literature on supply chain integration, present paper proposes an exploratory analysis of the measurement model corresponding to logistics integration. A Romanian dataset of 21 firms from various industries, covering all levels of a supply chain, from production to commerce is used to conduct a principal factor analysis to test for (a content validity, (b substantive validity, (c uni-dimensionality and (d reliability of scales used to measure integration in supply chains. Also the principal component analysis is used to forecast both dependent and independent variables subsequently used in an OLS estimation of the relationship between supply chain integration and performances in Romanian supply chains. Results support the conclusion that Romanian supply chains focus on a strategy of operational excellence.

  8. Integrating SMMEs into Value Chains: The Role of South Africa's ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    enterprises (SMMEs) is to deepen their integration into industry value chains. The goal of this article is to analyse the role and changing activities of one South African support programme for SMME development, the Tourism Enterprise Programme, which is committed to integrating SMMEs into tourism value chains.

  9. Supersymmetric quantum spin chains and classical integrable systems

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Tsuboi, Zengo; Zabrodin, Anton; Zotov, Andrei

    2015-01-01

    For integrable inhomogeneous supersymmetric spin chains (generalized graded magnets) constructed employing Y(gl(N|M))-invariant R-matrices in finite-dimensional representations we introduce the master T-operator which is a sort of generating function for the family of commuting quantum transfer matrices. Any eigenvalue of the master T-operator is the tau-function of the classical mKP hierarchy. It is a polynomial in the spectral parameter which is identified with the 0-th time of the hierarchy. This implies a remarkable relation between the quantum supersymmetric spin chains and classical many-body integrable systems of particles of the Ruijsenaars-Schneider type. As an outcome, we obtain a system of algebraic equations for the spectrum of the spin chain Hamiltonians.

  10. Using integrated information systems in supply chain management

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gonzálvez-Gallego, Nicolás; Molina-Castillo, Francisco-Jose; Soto-Acosta, Pedro; Varajao, Joao; Trigo, Antonio

    2015-02-01

    The aim of this paper is to empirically test not only the direct effects of information and communication technology (ICT) capabilities and integrated information systems (IS) on firm performance, but also the moderating role of IS integration along the supply chain in the relationship between ICT external and capabilities and business performance. Data collected from 102 large Iberian firms from Spain and Portugal are used to test the research model. The hierarchical multiple regression analysis is employed to test the direct effects and the moderating relationships proposed. Results show that external and internal ICT capabilities are important drivers of firm performance, while merely having integrated IS do not lead to better firm performance. In addition, a moderating effect of IS integration in the relationship between ICT capabilities and business performance is found, although this integration only contributes to firm performance when it is directed to connect with suppliers or customers rather than when integrating the whole supply chain.

  11. Yangian symmetry of long-range gl(N) integrable spin chains

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Beisert, Niklas; Erkal, Denis

    2008-01-01

    An interesting type of spin chain has appeared in the context of the planar AdS/CFT correspondence: it is based on an integrable nearest-neighbor spin chain, and it is perturbatively deformed by long-range interactions which apparently preserve the integrable structure. Similar models can be constructed by demanding the existence of merely one conserved local charge. Although the latter is not a sufficient integrability condition in general, the models often display convincing signs of full integrability. Here we consider a class of long-range spin chains with spins transforming in the fundamental representation of gl(N). For the most general such model with one conserved local charge we construct a conserved Yangian generator and show that it obeys the Serre relations. We thus provide a formal proof of integrability for this class of models

  12. Supply chain integration opportunities for the offshore wind industry

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Martinez, Ivan

    2016-01-01

    Purpose - This paper surveys the literature on supply chain integration (SCI) to identify the state of research in the various types of studied industries and manufacturing environments. The purpose of this paper is to identify academic discoveries that could provide offshore wind projects...... with means to overcome their current supply chain challenges. Design/methodology/approach - A comprehensive literature review was conducted involving 162 articles published in 29 peer-reviewed journals. The papers were analyzed in terms of the dimensions of SCI, research methodology, unit of analysis, level...... of analysis, type of industry and manufacturing environment being studied, integrative practices, integrative barriers and the link between SCI and performance. Findings - While SCI has been evolving to become an influential topic in the field of supply chain management, scholars have overlooked industrial...

  13. The Effect of Information Security Management on Organizational Processes Integration in Supply Chain

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mohsen Shafiei Nikabadi

    2012-03-01

    Full Text Available : The major purpose of this article was that how information security management has effect on supply chain integration and the effect of implementing "information security management system" on enhancing supplies chain integration. In this respect, current research was seeking a combination overview to these tow approaches (Information Security Management and Organizational Processes Integration by Enterprise Resources Planning System and after that determined factors of these two important issue by factor analysis. Researchers using a series of comments in the automotive experts (production planning and management and supply chain experts and caregivers car makers and suppliers in the first level and second level supply chain industry. In this way, it has been done that impact on how information security management processes enterprise supply chain integration with the help of statistical correlation analysis. The results of this investigation indicated effect of "information security management system" various dimensions that were coordination of information, prevent human errors and hardware, the accuracy of information and education for users on two dimensions of internal and external integration of business processes, supply chain and finally, it can increased integration of business processes in supply chain. At the end owing to quite these results, deployment of "information security management system" increased the integration of organizational processes in supply chain. It could be demonstrate with the consideration of relation of organizational integration processes whit the level of coordination of information, prevent errors and accuracy of information throughout the supply chain.

  14. Supply Chain Management and Sustainability: Procrastinating Integration in Mainstream Research

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Marisa P. de Brito

    2010-03-01

    Full Text Available Research has pointed out opportunities and research agendas to integrate sustainability issues with supply chain and operations management. However, we find that it is still not mainstream practice to systematically take a sustainability approach in tackling supply chain and operations management issues. In this paper, we make use of behavioral theory to explain the current lack of integration. We conclude through abductive reasoning that the reasons for procrastinating integration of sustainability in supply chain and operations management research are the conflicting nature of the task and the inherent context, which is the focus on operations rather than environmental or social issues.

  15. Efficiency and Integration in the Food Supply Chain

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sebastian Jarzebowski

    2013-11-01

    Full Text Available Due to the nature of the food supply chain, an increase of the integration's degree in the chain may be an important aspect in the context of increasing the efficiency of agri-food companies. Therefore, exploring the relationships among these variables was found as an important research area and adopted as the goal of the paper. The paper is focused mainly on the theoretical background showing the relationship between integration and performance. A description of the theoretical and methodological aspects of performance measurement and its extension (including the integration aspect was also made within the framework of the paper.For an empirical illustration of the analyzed relationships two steps were made. Firstly, the integration's degree in the food chain was measured. Secondly, the efficiency of the companies from the cereals processing industry in Europe was assessed. The SFA models (e.g. Translog and Cobb-Douglas functional form were used for assessment of efficiency. By using stochastic method (e.g. the SFA, Stochastic Frontier Analysis, one may show the influence of external variable (the integration in the supply chain on the efficiency performance of enterprises. Efficiency of economic entities is not an unambiguous term. There are several different concepts of efficiency, its measurement and expressions. Within the framework of efficiency, many terms of similar meaning may be applied. However, these concepts are not identical. The actual concept of efficiency is derived from the structure of the production function, therefore it is conditioned by changes in the productivity of production factors and their remuneration and refers to the allocation of production factors in the most technically efficient way.

  16. Supply chain integration and performance : the moderating effect of supply complexity

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Giménez, C.; van der Vaart, T.; van Donk, D.P.

    2012-01-01

    Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effectiveness of supply chain integration in different contexts. More specifically, it aims to show that supply chain integration is only effective in buyer-supplier relationships characterised by high supply complexity.

  17. Supply chain integration: A qualitative exploration of perspectives from plastic manufacturers in Gauteng

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Yvonne Vermeulen

    2016-05-01

    Full Text Available Background: Supply chain integration was identified as a tool to assist an organisation to survive in a competitive marketplace. It was unclear how plastic manufacturers in Gauteng perceived supply chain integration efforts between themselves and their suppliers. Objectives: This study’s main purpose was to investigate the nature and extent of supply chain integration between 10 plastic manufacturers in Gauteng and their suppliers. The focus was on these manufacturers’ commitment to and perceptions of supplier integration efforts. Method: The study was conducted with plastic manufacturing organisations in Gauteng, over a period of 2 months. A total of 10 participants were engaged through semi-structured interviews. Results: The main findings of the study revealed that commitment and trust were found to be the antecedents of supplier integration and closer collaboration, while customer price pressure and limited available resources served as motivating factors for integration efforts. Conclusion: It is recommended that organisations must revisit integration efforts when new markets are penetrated and top management support must be revisited using a strategic framework. Keywords: Supply chain integration; supply chain commitment; organisational integration; performance; visibility; supplier integration; customer integration; qualitative study; semi-structured interview; basic research.

  18. Integrated decision making for the optimal bioethanol supply chain

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Corsano, Gabriela; Fumero, Yanina; Montagna, Jorge M.

    2014-01-01

    Highlights: • Optimal allocation, design and production planning of integrated ethanol plants is considered. • Mixed Integer Programming model is presented for solving the integration problem. • Different tradeoffs can be assessed and analyzed. • The modeling framework represents an useful tool for guiding decision making. - Abstract: Bioethanol production poses different challenges that require an integrated approach. Usually previous works have focused on specific perspectives of the global problem. On the contrary, bioethanol, in particular, and biofuels, in general, requires an integrated decision making framework that takes into account the needs and concerns of the different members involved in its supply chain. In this work, a Mixed Integer Linear Programming (MILP) model for the optimal allocation, design and production planning of integrated ethanol/yeast plants is considered. The proposed formulation addresses the relations between different aspects of the bioethanol supply chain and provides an efficient tool to assess the global operation of the supply chain taking into account different points of view. The model proposed in this work simultaneously determines the structure of a three-echelon supply chain (raw material sites, production facilities and customer zones), the design of each installed plant and operational considerations through production campaigns. Yeast production is considered in order to reduce the negative environmental impact caused by bioethanol residues. Several cases are presented in order to assess the approach capabilities and to evaluate the tradeoffs among all the decisions

  19. Formal Verification Method for Configuration of Integrated Modular Avionics System Using MARTE

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Lisong Wang

    2018-01-01

    Full Text Available The configuration information of Integrated Modular Avionics (IMA system includes almost all details of whole system architecture, which is used to configure the hardware interfaces, operating system, and interactions among applications to make an IMA system work correctly and reliably. It is very important to ensure the correctness and integrity of the configuration in the IMA system design phase. In this paper, we focus on modelling and verification of configuration information of IMA/ARINC653 system based on MARTE (Modelling and Analysis for Real-time and Embedded Systems. Firstly, we define semantic mapping from key concepts of configuration (such as modules, partitions, memory, process, and communications to components of MARTE element and propose a method for model transformation between XML-formatted configuration information and MARTE models. Then we present a formal verification framework for ARINC653 system configuration based on theorem proof techniques, including construction of corresponding REAL theorems according to the semantics of those key components of configuration information and formal verification of theorems for the properties of IMA, such as time constraints, spatial isolation, and health monitoring. After that, a special issue of schedulability analysis of ARINC653 system is studied. We design a hierarchical scheduling strategy with consideration of characters of the ARINC653 system, and a scheduling analyzer MAST-2 is used to implement hierarchical schedule analysis. Lastly, we design a prototype tool, called Configuration Checker for ARINC653 (CC653, and two case studies show that the methods proposed in this paper are feasible and efficient.

  20. Profit Analysis Model of Smart Item Implementation in Integrated Supply Chain Process

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tritularsih, Yustina; Rinanto, Andhy; Prasetyo, Hoedi; Nur Rosyidi, Cucuk

    2018-03-01

    Nowadays all links of the entire supply chain need to integrate their different infrastructures and they have better control of them to drive better profits. This integration should offer the ability for companies in order to have an overall and transparent insight to its supply chain activities. An intelligent supply chain which is mainly supported by Smart Items technology can satisfy the need of those integration. By means of Smart Items, a company can benefit some advantages. Those are cost reduction and value creation. However, currently there is no comprehensive Smart Item infrastructure exists yet so it is difficult to calculate the true benefit information. This paper attempts to recommend a model for estimating the benefits of implementing Smart Items in a company which has an integrated supply chain process. The integrated supply chain means that three echelons (supplier, shipper and retailer) of supply chain are belonged to a company. The proposed model was used to determine the shrinkage value and RFID tag price which can give the maximum benefit of Smart Items implementation. A numerical example is also provided to give a better comprehension on model calculation.

  1. Deformations of N=4 SYM and integrable spin chain models

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Berenstein, David; Cherkis, Sergey A.

    2004-01-01

    Beginning with the planar limit of N=4 SYM theory, we study planar diagrams for field theory deformations of N=4 which are marginal at the free field theory level. We show that the requirement of integrability of the full one-loop dilatation operator in the scalar sector, places very strong constraints on the field theory, so that the only soluble models correspond essentially to orbifolds of N=4 SYM. For these, the associated spin chain model gets twisted boundary conditions that depend on the length of the chain, but which are still integrable. We also show that theories with integrable subsectors appear quite generically, and it is possible to engineer integrable subsectors to have some specific symmetry, however these do not generally lead to full integrability. We also try to construct a theory whose spin chain has quantum group symmetry SOq(6) as a deformation of the SO(6) R-symmetry structure of N=4 SYM. We show that it is not possible to obtain a spin chain with that symmetry from deformations of the scalar potential of N=4 SYM.We also show that the natural context for these questions can be better phrased in terms of multi-matrix quantum mechanics rather than in four-dimensional field theories

  2. A Supply Chain Design Problem Integrated Facility Unavailabilities Management

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Fouad Maliki

    2016-08-01

    Full Text Available A supply chain is a set of facilities connected together in order to provide products to customers. The supply chain is subject to random failures caused by different factors which cause the unavailability of some sites. Given the current economic context, the management of these unavailabilities is becoming a strategic choice to ensure the desired reliability and availability levels of the different supply chain facilities. In this work, we treat two problems related to the field of supply chain, namely the design and unavailabilities management of logistics facilities. Specifically, we consider a stochastic distribution network with consideration of suppliers' selection, distribution centres location (DCs decisions and DCs’ unavailabilities management. Two resolution approaches are proposed. The first approach called non-integrated consists on define the optimal supply chain structure using an optimization approach based on genetic algorithms (GA, then to simulate the supply chain performance with the presence of DCs failures. The second approach called integrated approach is to consider the design of the supply chain problem and unavailabilities management of DCs in the same model. Note that, we replace each unavailable DC by performing a reallocation using GA in the two approaches. The obtained results of the two approaches are detailed and compared showing their effectiveness.

  3. Wal-Mart's Successfully Integrated Supply Chain and the Necessity of Establishing the Triple-A supply Chain in the 21st century

    OpenAIRE

    Ha Nguyen Thi Thu

    2017-01-01

    Aim/purpose - The main purposes of the paper are to analyze features creating a Wal-Mart's successful integrated supply chain that contributes its dominant position in the retail market and identify issues existing in Wal-Mart's supply chain. Then some suggestions will be mentioned for Wal-Mart to establish the Triple-A supply chain. Methodology - This paper is based on literature studies for reviewing Wal-Mart's integrated supply chain and designing an ideal Triple-A supply chain. Findings -...

  4. Integrable multi parametric SU(N) chain

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Foerster, Angela; Roditi, Itzhak; Rodrigues, Ligia M.C.S.

    1996-03-01

    We analyse integrable models associated to a multi parametric SU(N) R-matrix. We show that the Hamiltonians describe SU(N) chains with twisted boundary conditions and that the underlying algebraic structure is the multi parametric deformation of SU(N) enlarged by the introduction of a central element. (author). 15 refs

  5. An Integrated Method of Supply Chains Vulnerability Assessment

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jiaguo Liu

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available Supply chain vulnerability identification and evaluation are extremely important to mitigate the supply chain risk. We present an integrated method to assess the supply chain vulnerability. The potential failure mode of the supply chain vulnerability is analyzed through the SCOR model. Combining the fuzzy theory and the gray theory, the correlation degree of each vulnerability indicator can be calculated and the target improvements can be carried out. In order to verify the effectiveness of the proposed method, we use Kendall’s tau coefficient to measure the effect of different methods. The result shows that the presented method has the highest consistency in the assessment compared with the other two methods.

  6. Levels & Barriers to Supply Chain Integration: A conceptual model of Supply Chain Performance

    OpenAIRE

    RajaIrfan Sabir; Muhammad Irfan

    2014-01-01

    In modern business scenario Supply chain has become the back bone for every business organization. All supply chain partners are joined together in value delivery network of company that no one can perform better without support of other. The ultimate objective of this cohesive relationship is to deliver value to customers and gets desired state of customer satisfaction & loyalty for the organization. For this purpose it is necessary to integrate the internal and external partners of Supply c...

  7. Multidimensionality evaluation of supply chain management integration

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Fernanda Paes Arantes

    2018-03-01

    Full Text Available Integration is constantly reported in the literature as an essential feature of SCM. However, it is as difficult to define as to operationalize it, resulting in a lack of information on how to increase the level of integration among members. Thus, this research aims to evaluate the dimensionality of SCI, to check alignment with the features identified in the literature using multivariate statistical analysis. The methodology used was based on a questionnaire to assess the level of companies integration with suppliers of its supply chain. This instrument consisted of 21 items, with response options: yes, no or not applicable. The questions focused on evaluating the integration with suppliers, so each company consulted could answer a questionnaire for each supplier, since the intensity of relationships varies. Thus, 41 companies participated in the survey, resulting in 205 responses. Full-information item factor analysis and principal component analysis on the correlation matrix tetrachoric were used for the instrument dimensionality analysis. They are appropriate procedures for analysis of dichotomous variables. The results of this analysis enabled grouping the questionnaire items in the following underlying factors: trust, information sharing, partnership, collaboration or cooperation, and coordination. The identification of such factors such as dimensions of SCI enables greater understanding on how to raise the level of integration among the members of a supply chain.

  8. Study of China green supply chain management policies and standard

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhang, Xiaoxin; Huang, Jin; Lin, Ling

    2017-11-01

    With the highlight of the environment issues, manufacturing industry needs to be environmentally managed with integrated methods in system aspect. Green supply chain management, integrating the environment aspect into each step of the implement of supply chain management, is the key measure to improve the efficiency of environmental management and to remit the pollution. It also helps to make best use and configuration of the resources and has been attracting much attention from our government, enterprises and academia in recent years. This paper introduced the definition and content of green supply chain management, concluded the research progress of green supply chain management by domestic scholars, stated the characteristic and achievement of the implement of green supply chain management in China as well as analyzed the current existing problems and suggestions in the future.

  9. A Review of Theoretical Frameworks for Supply Chain Integration

    Science.gov (United States)

    Thoo, AC; Tan, LC; Sulaiman, Z.; Zakuan, N.

    2017-06-01

    In a world of fierce competition and business driven by speed to market, good quality and low costs, this environment requires firms to have a source of competitive advantage that is inimitable and non-substitutable. For a supply chain integration (SCI) strategy to achieve sustainable competitive advantage it must be non-substitutable, inimitable, path-dependent and developed over time. Also, an integrated supply chain framework is needed to tie the whole network together in order to reduce perennial supply chain challenges such as functional silos, poor transparency of knowledge and information and the inadequate formation of appropriate customer and supplier relationships. Therefore, this paper aims to evaluate the competitive impact of a SCI strategy on firm performance using the theory of Resource-based View (RBV) and relational view.

  10. A parallel optimization method for product configuration and supplier selection based on interval

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zheng, Jian; Zhang, Meng; Li, Guoxi

    2017-06-01

    In the process of design and manufacturing, product configuration is an important way of product development, and supplier selection is an essential component of supply chain management. To reduce the risk of procurement and maximize the profits of enterprises, this study proposes to combine the product configuration and supplier selection, and express the multiple uncertainties as interval numbers. An integrated optimization model of interval product configuration and supplier selection was established, and NSGA-II was put forward to locate the Pareto-optimal solutions to the interval multiobjective optimization model.

  11. Supply chain integration: A qualitative exploration of perspectives from plastic manufacturers in Gauteng

    OpenAIRE

    Yvonne Vermeulen; Wesley Niemann; Theuns Kotzé

    2016-01-01

    Background: Supply chain integration was identified as a tool to assist an organisation to survive in a competitive marketplace. It was unclear how plastic manufacturers in Gauteng perceived supply chain integration efforts between themselves and their suppliers. Objectives: This study’s main purpose was to investigate the nature and extent of supply chain integration between 10 plastic manufacturers in Gauteng and their suppliers. The focus was on these manufacturers’ commitment to and p...

  12. Integrated planning in supply chains with buy-side and sell-side

    Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

    Supply chain management; dynamic pricing; partner selection; supply chain planning; electronic marketplaces. Abstract. In this paper we develop a quadratic programming model for partner selection and planning in integrated supply chain networks embedded with both sell-side and buy-side electronic marketplaces.

  13. Applying Fuzzy Multiobjective Integrated Logistics Model to Green Supply Chain Problems

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Chui-Yu Chiu

    2014-01-01

    Full Text Available The aim of this paper is attempting to explore the optimal way of supply chain management within the domain of environmental responsibility and concerns. The background of this research involves the issue of green supply chain management (GSCM and the concept of the multiobjective integrated logistics model. More specifically, in this paper, we suggest the fuzzy multiobjective integrated logistics model with the transportation cost and demand fuzziness to solve green supply chain problems in the uncertain environment which is illustrated via the detailed numerical example. Results and the sensitivity analysis of the numerical example indicate that when the governmental subsidy value increased the profits of the reverse chain also increased. The finding shows that the governmental subsidy policy could remain of significant influence for used-product reverse logistics chain.

  14. The driving elements of an integrated configuration management program

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Zaalouk, M.G.

    1990-01-01

    The need for an effective long term Plant Configuration Management Program (CMP) has been demonstrated in response to Plant Design Modification and Plant Life Extension activities. Having particular need are those Utilities operating early vintage nuclear plants, where numerous modifications have been made without the benefit of an accurate, complete, properly maintained and controlled Design Basis. This paper presents a model for a long term, cost effective CMP which is based on and driven by the development, maintenance and control of accurate plant Design Basis Information. The model also provides a systematic approach for devising and implementing an integrated Plant CMP based on the essential attributes of the Plant Configuration Management, including Design Basis

  15. Supply Chain Management and Sustainability : Procrastinating Integration in Mainstream Research

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    De Brito, M.P.; Van der Laan, E.A.

    2010-01-01

    Research has pointed out opportunities and research agendas to integrate sustainability issues with supply chain and operations management. However, we find that it is still not mainstream practice to systematically take a sustainability approach in tackling supply chain and operations management

  16. Supply Chain Management and Sustainability: Procrastinating Integration in Mainstream Research

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    M.P. de Brito (Marisa); E.A. van der Laan (Erwin)

    2010-01-01

    textabstractResearch has pointed out opportunities and research agendas to integrate sustainability issues with supply chain and operations management. However, we find that it is still not mainstream practice to systematically take a sustainability approach in tackling supply chain and operations

  17. Systematic classical continuum limits of integrable spin chains and emerging novel dualities

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Avan, Jean; Doikou, Anastasia; Sfetsos, Konstadinos

    2010-01-01

    We examine certain classical continuum long wave-length limits of prototype integrable quantum spin chains. We define the corresponding construction of classical continuum Lax operators. Our discussion starts with the XXX chain, the anisotropic Heisenberg model and their generalizations and extends to the generic isotropic and anisotropic gl n magnets. Certain classical and quantum integrable models emerging from special 'dualities' of quantum spin chains, parametrized by c-number matrices, are also presented.

  18. O2O - Based Agricultural Products Supply Chain Process Integration Optimization Based on Internet +

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Li Huijuan

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available Traditional wholesale and retail, electricity supplier of agricultural products supply chain have many difficulties. The O2O supply chain of agricultural products of “Internet+”, committed to the integration of online and offline advantage process, has become the main direction of the agricultural products supply chain transformation. Practice operation results show that O2O supply chain can effectively play the advantages of online and offline process integration, but its further development is still subject to the logistics, information flow of the dispersion, fracture and high cost. The integrated optimization of various regions and various enterprises and all sectors of the supply chain process is the key to optimize the process Internet plus era of agricultural products supply chain.

  19. AN EXPLORATORY APPROACH TO INTEGRATION OF BUSINESS PRACTICES IN SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT

    OpenAIRE

    Constangioara Alexandru

    2014-01-01

    Literature on supply chain management focuses increasingly on the topic of supply chain integration. Morash and Bowersox (1989) show that integration links relationships, activities, functions, processes and locations. Integration links a firm with its customers, suppliers and other channel members. The empirical research brings supporting evidence on the theory that organizations achieve the desired competitive advantage only by focusing on one strategy – either collaborative closeness or op...

  20. Managing Capabilities for Supply Chain Resilience Through it Integration

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Gružauskas Valentas

    2017-08-01

    Full Text Available The trend for e-commerce, estimated population size to 11 billion by 2050, and an increase in urbanization level to 70 % is requiring to re-think the current supply chain. These trends changed the distribution process: delivery distances are decreasing, the product variety is increasing, and more products are being sold in smaller quantities. Therefore, the concept of supply chain resilience has gained more recognition in recent years. The scientific literature analysis conducted by the authors indicate several capabilities that influence supply chain resilience. Collaboration, flexibility, redundancy and integration are the most influential capabilities to supply chain resilience. However, the authors identify that the combination of these capabilities to supply chain resilience is under researched. The authors indicate that by combining these capabilities with the upcoming technologies of industry 4.0, supply chain resilience can be achieved. In the future, the authors are planning to conduct further research to identify the influence of these capabilities to supply chain resilience, to quantify supply chain resilience, and to provide further practices of industry 4.0 concept usage for supply chain resilience.

  1. Research on the performance evaluation of agricultural products supply chain integrated operation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jiang, Jiake; Wang, Xifu; Liu, Yang

    2017-04-01

    The agricultural product supply chain integrated operation can ensure the quality and efficiency of agricultural products, and achieve the optimal goal of low cost and high service. This paper establishes a performance evaluation index system of agricultural products supply chain integration operation based on the development status of agricultural products and SCOR, BSC and KPI model. And then, we constructing rough set theory and BP neural network comprehensive evaluation model with the aid of Rosetta and MATLAB tools and the case study is about the development of agricultural products integrated supply chain in Jing-Jin-Ji region. And finally, we obtain the corresponding performance results, and give some improvement measures and management recommendations to the managers.

  2. O2O - Based Agricultural Products Supply Chain Process Integration Optimization Based on Internet +

    OpenAIRE

    Li Huijuan

    2017-01-01

    Traditional wholesale and retail, electricity supplier of agricultural products supply chain have many difficulties. The O2O supply chain of agricultural products of “Internet+”, committed to the integration of online and offline advantage process, has become the main direction of the agricultural products supply chain transformation. Practice operation results show that O2O supply chain can effectively play the advantages of online and offline process integration, but its further development...

  3. Synchronization in chains of light-controlled oscillators

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Avila, G M RamIrez; Guisset, J L; Deneubourg, J L

    2005-01-01

    Using light-controlled oscillators (LCOs) and a mathematical model of them introduced in [1], we have analyzed a population of LCOs arranged in chains with nonperiodic (linear configuration) and periodic (ring configuration) boundary conditions in which we have solved numerically the corresponding equations for a broad interval of coupling strength values and for chains between 2 and 25 LCOs. We have considered three different situations, viz. identical LCOs, identical LCOs with simplifications (LCOs considered as integrate-and-fire (IF) oscillators), and finally nonidentical LCOs. We study synchronization under two criteria: the first takes into account the simultaneity of flashing events (phase difference criterion), and the second considers period-locking as a criterion for synchronization. For each case, we have identified regions of synchronization in the plane coupling strength versus number of oscillators. We observe different behaviors depending on the values of these variables

  4. The Effect of Information Security Management on Organizational Processes Integration in Supply Chain

    OpenAIRE

    Mohsen Shafiei Nikabadi; Ahmad Jafarian; Azam Jalili Bolhasani

    2012-01-01

    : The major purpose of this article was that how information security management has effect on supply chain integration and the effect of implementing "information security management system" on enhancing supplies chain integration. In this respect, current research was seeking a combination overview to these tow approaches (Information Security Management and Organizational Processes Integration by Enterprise Resources Planning System) and after that determined factors of these two import...

  5. ICAROUS - Integrated Configurable Algorithms for Reliable Operations Of Unmanned Systems

    Science.gov (United States)

    Consiglio, María; Muñoz, César; Hagen, George; Narkawicz, Anthony; Balachandran, Swee

    2016-01-01

    NASA's Unmanned Aerial System (UAS) Traffic Management (UTM) project aims at enabling near-term, safe operations of small UAS vehicles in uncontrolled airspace, i.e., Class G airspace. A far-term goal of UTM research and development is to accommodate the expected rise in small UAS traffic density throughout the National Airspace System (NAS) at low altitudes for beyond visual line-of-sight operations. This paper describes a new capability referred to as ICAROUS (Integrated Configurable Algorithms for Reliable Operations of Unmanned Systems), which is being developed under the UTM project. ICAROUS is a software architecture comprised of highly assured algorithms for building safety-centric, autonomous, unmanned aircraft applications. Central to the development of the ICAROUS algorithms is the use of well-established formal methods to guarantee higher levels of safety assurance by monitoring and bounding the behavior of autonomous systems. The core autonomy-enabling capabilities in ICAROUS include constraint conformance monitoring and contingency control functions. ICAROUS also provides a highly configurable user interface that enables the modular integration of mission-specific software components.

  6. How to fold a spin chain: Integrable boundaries of the Heisenberg XXX and Inozemtsev hyperbolic models

    Science.gov (United States)

    De La Rosa Gomez, Alejandro; MacKay, Niall; Regelskis, Vidas

    2017-04-01

    We present a general method of folding an integrable spin chain, defined on a line, to obtain an integrable open spin chain, defined on a half-line. We illustrate our method through two fundamental models with sl2 Lie algebra symmetry: the Heisenberg XXX and the Inozemtsev hyperbolic spin chains. We obtain new long-range boundary Hamiltonians and demonstrate that they exhibit Yangian symmetries, thus ensuring integrability of the models we obtain. The method presented provides a ;bottom-up; approach for constructing integrable boundaries and can be applied to any spin chain model.

  7. Integrating the processes of a Kraft pulp and paper mill and its supply chain

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Mesfun, Sennai; Toffolo, Andrea

    2015-01-01

    Highlights: • A process integration model that establishes material stream connections among typical Nordic forest industries is developed. • Potential benefit of the operating the different industries in one site is studied using pinch analysis. • Different scenarios considered to assess impact of prioritization on how to utilize excess biomass. • Results indicate large potential for improved biomass resource utilization. - Abstract: This paper investigates the possibility of combining different forest industries (a pulp and paper mill, its supply chain, and a wood-pellet plant) into an integrated industrial site in which they share a common heat and power utility. Advanced process integration and optimization techniques are used to study the site from both material and energy viewpoints. An existing pulp and paper mill is used as the site core plant and its pulp and paper production rates are kept fixed as they are in reality, while the other material flow links among the plants are based on the current industrial situation in Sweden. Different scenarios are evaluated in order to reflect the two main objectives that can be pursued (increased electricity production or biomass resource saving) and the two technologies that can be considered for the shared CHP system (boilers and product gas fired gas turbines). The corresponding non-integrated (standalone) configurations are compared to these scenarios to quantify the potential benefits of the integration. Investment opportunity is also calculated for the considered scenarios as an indicator of the economic convenience

  8. Logistic chain modelling

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Slats, P.A.; Bhola, B.; Evers, J.J.M.; Dijkhuizen, G.

    1995-01-01

    Logistic chain modelling is very important in improving the overall performance of the total logistic chain. Logistic models provide support for a large range of applications, such as analysing bottlenecks, improving customer service, configuring new logistic chains and adapting existing chains to

  9. Canonical Drude Weight for Non-integrable Quantum Spin Chains

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mastropietro, Vieri; Porta, Marcello

    2018-03-01

    The Drude weight is a central quantity for the transport properties of quantum spin chains. The canonical definition of Drude weight is directly related to Kubo formula of conductivity. However, the difficulty in the evaluation of such expression has led to several alternative formulations, accessible to different methods. In particular, the Euclidean, or imaginary-time, Drude weight can be studied via rigorous renormalization group. As a result, in the past years several universality results have been proven for such quantity at zero temperature; remarkably, the proofs work for both integrable and non-integrable quantum spin chains. Here we establish the equivalence of Euclidean and canonical Drude weights at zero temperature. Our proof is based on rigorous renormalization group methods, Ward identities, and complex analytic ideas.

  10. Integration of Travel Agencies with other Supply Chain Members: Impact on Efficiency

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Topolšek Darja

    2016-10-01

    Full Text Available The performance of tourism supply chains depends on the efficiency of all members involved, including the travel agencies. The paper addresses the analysis of relationships between the agencies’ external integration with other supply chain members on one side, and the efficiency of the agencies on the other. The data envelopment analysis is applied for the estimation of efficiencies, while the structural equation modelling (SEM is conducted for identification of possible integration impacts on the efficiency. Results show that integration with other supply chain members indeed has some positive impacts on the agencies’ efficiency. Also, the developed SEM model implies that in-depth forms of collaboration would enable more effective exploitation of the identified relations between the integration and efficiency of the agencies. This finding could be an important guideline for the agencies’ management in the sense of achieving more satisfied customers and bigger profits, as well as reduced operational costs.

  11. Inhibition of nuclear T3 binding by fatty acids: dependence on chain length, unsaturated bonds, cis-trans configuration and esterification

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Wiersinga, W. M.; Platvoet-ter Schiphorst, M.

    1990-01-01

    1. Fatty acids have the capacity for inhibition of nuclear T3 binding (INB). The present studies were undertaken to describe the INB-activity of fatty acids as a function of chain length, unsaturated bonds, cis-trans configuration, and esterification. 2. Isolated rat liver nuclei were incubated with

  12. Upgrade and integration of the configuration and monitoring tools for the ATLAS Online farm

    CERN Document Server

    Ballestrero, S; The ATLAS collaboration; Darlea, G L; Dumitru, I; Scannicchio, DA; Twomey, M S; Valsan, M L; Zaytsev, A

    2012-01-01

    The ATLAS Online farm is a non-homogeneous cluster of nearly 3000 PCs which run the data acquisition, trigger and control of the ATLAS detector. The systems are configured and monitored by a combination of open-source tools, such as Quattor and Nagios, and tools developed in-house, such as ConfDB. We report on the ongoing introduction of new provisioning and configuration tools, Puppet and ConfDB v2 which are more flexible and allow automation for previously uncovered needs, and on the upgrade and integration of the monitoring and alerting tools, including the interfacing of these with the TDAQ Shifter Assistant software and their integration with configuration tools. We discuss the selection of the tools and the assessment of their functionality and performance, and how they enabled the introduction of virtualization for selected services.

  13. Upgrade and integration of the configuration and monitoring tools for the ATLAS Online farm

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ballestrero, S; Darlea, G–L; Twomey, M S; Brasolin, F; Dumitru, I; Valsan, M L; Scannicchio, D A; Zaytsev, A

    2012-01-01

    The ATLAS Online farm is a non-homogeneous cluster of nearly 3000 systems which run the data acquisition, trigger and control of the ATLAS detector. The systems are configured and monitored by a combination of open-source tools, such as Quattor and Nagios, and tools developed in-house, such as ConfDB. We report on the ongoing introduction of new provisioning and configuration tools, Puppet and ConfDB v2, which are more flexible and allow automation for previously uncovered needs, and on the upgrade and integration of the monitoring and alerting tools, including the interfacing of these with the TDAQ Shifter Assistant software and their integration with configuration tools. We discuss the selection of the tools and the assessment of their functionality and performance, and how they enabled the introduction of virtualization for selected services.

  14. Risk Assessment along Supply Chain: A RFID and Wireless Sensor Network Integration Approach

    OpenAIRE

    Laurent GOMEZ; Maryline LAURENT; Ethmane EL MOUSTAINE

    2012-01-01

    Wireless Sensor Networks together with Radio Frequency Identification are promising technologies for supply chain management systems. They both provide supply chain players with goods tracking and monitoring functions along the chain. Whereas RFIDs are rather focusing on identification of goods (e.g., identification, classification), WSNs are meant to monitor and control the supply chain environment. Nevertheless, despite the interest for the supply chain management systems, their integration...

  15. Coordinated supply chain dynamic production planning model

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chandra, Charu; Grabis, Janis

    2001-10-01

    Coordination of different and often contradicting interests of individual supply chain members is one of the important issues in supply chain management because the individual members can not succeed without success of the supply chain and vice versa. This paper investigates a supply chain dynamic production planning problem with emphasis on coordination. A planning problem is formally described using a supply chain kernel, which defines supply chain configuration, management policies, available resources and objectives both at supply chain or macro and supply chain member or micro levels. The coordinated model is solved in order to balance decisions made at the macro and micro levels and members' profitability is used as the coordination criterion. The coordinated model is used to determine inventory levels and production capacity across the supply chain. Application of the coordinated model distributes costs burden uniformly among supply chain members and preserves overall efficiency of the supply chain. Influence of the demand series uncertainty is investigated. The production planning model is a part of the integrated supply chain decision modeling system, which is shared among the supply chain members across the Internet.

  16. Buyer focus : Evaluation of a new concept for supply chain integration

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    van der Vaart, T; van Donk, DP

    2004-01-01

    The goal of integrated supply chains is to remove barriers to ease the flow of materials and information. This article concentrates on an important barrier: shared resources in a supply chain. The removal of these shared resources is closely related to the recently introduced concept of buyer focus.

  17. Buyer focus : evaluation of a new concept for supply chain integration

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Vaart, Taco van der; Donk, Dirk Pieter van

    2003-01-01

    The goal of integrated supply chains is to remove barriers to ease the flow of materials and information. This article concentrates on an important barrier: shared resources in a supply chain. The removal of these shared resources is closely related to the recently introduced concept of buyer focus.

  18. The Integration of Extended Supply Chain with Sales and Operation Planning: A Conceptual Framework

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Md. Rokonuzzaman

    2018-03-01

    Full Text Available This research is an effort to present the emergence of ways to enable marketers to attain high sensitivity and visibility in the supply chain network. It also aims to facilitate better multi-criteria decisions throughout the extended supply chain. It is a qualitative study considering 31 published research articles related to supply chain integration, sales and operation planning, and the use of information systems. With a focus on narrative data, a purposive sampling technique was used to select the papers for review and to produce the results of this study. The findings of this research indicate that the sales and operation planning (S&OP processes and the key operations in the supply chain network need to be fully integrated. The findings also indicate that information system resources are the key enabler of S&OP and supply chain integration. To be specific, this research is an exercise in theorizing a conceptual framework for optimally confronting the emerging challenges and opportunities regarding an extended supply chain and is intended to bring the proficiency of multi-criteria decisions and actions in the entire supply chain network.

  19. Integrable spin chain in superconformal Chern-Simons theory

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bak, Dongsu; Rey, Soo-Jong

    2008-01-01

    N = 6 superconformal Chern-Simons theory was proposed as gauge theory dual to Type IIA string theory on AdS 4 x CP 3 . We study integrability of the theory from conformal dimension spectrum of single trace operators at planar limit. At strong 't Hooft coupling, the spectrum is obtained from excitation energy of free superstring on OSp(6|4; R)/SO(3, 1) x SU(3) x U(1) supercoset. We recall that the worldsheet theory is integrable classically by utilizing well-known results concerning sigma model on symmetric space. With R-symmetry group SU(4), we also solve relevant Yang-Baxter equation for a spin chain system associated with the single trace operators. From the solution, we construct alternating spin chain Hamiltonian involving three-site interactions between 4 and 4-bar . At weak 't Hooft coupling, we study gauge theory perturbatively, and calculate action of dilatation operator to single trace operators up to two loops. To ensure consistency, we computed all relevant Feynman diagrams contributing to the dilatation opeator. We find that resulting spin chain Hamiltonian matches with the Hamiltonian derived from Yang-Baxter equation. We further study new issues arising from the shortest gauge invariant operators TrY I Y † J = (15, 1). We observe that 'wrapping interactions' are present, compute the true spectrum and find that the spectrum agrees with prediction from supersymmetry. We also find that scaling dimension computed naively from alternating spin chain Hamiltonian coincides with the true spectrum. We solve Bethe ansatz equations for small number of excitations, and find indications of correlation between excitations of 4's and 4-bar 's and of nonexistence of mesonic (44-bar ) bound-state.

  20. Supply chain integration scales validation and benchmark values

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Juan A. Marin-Garcia

    2013-06-01

    Full Text Available Purpose: The clarification of the constructs of the supply chain integration (clients, suppliers, external and internal, the creation of a measurement instrument based on a list of items taken from earlier papers, the validation of these scales and a preliminary benchmark to interpret the scales by percentiles based on a set of control variables (size of the plant, country, sector and degree of vertical integration. Design/methodology/approach: Our empirical analysis is based on the HPM project database (2005-2007 timeframe. The international sample is made up of 266 plants across ten countries: Austria, Canada, Finland, Germany, Italy, Japan, Korea, Spain, Sweden and the USA. In each country. We analized the descriptive statistics, internal consistency testing to purify the items (inter-item correlations, Cronbach’s alpha, squared multiple correlation, corrected item-total correlation, exploratory factor analysis, and finally, a confirmatory factor analysis to check the convergent and discriminant validity of the scales. The analyses will be done with the SPSS and EQS programme using the maximum likelihood parameter estimation method. Findings: The four proposed scales show excellent psychometric properties. Research limitations/implications: with a clearer and more concise designation of the supply chain integration measurement scales more reliable and accurate data could be taken to analyse the relations between these constructs with other variables of interest to the academic l fields. Practical implications: providing scales that are valid as a diagnostic tool for best practices, as well as providing a benchmark with which to compare the score for each individual plant against a collection of industrial companies from the machinery, electronics and transportation sectors. Originality/value: supply chain integration may be a major factor in explaining the performance of companies. The results are nevertheless inconclusive, the vast range

  1. Software configuration management

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Arribas Peces, E.; Martin Faraldo, P.

    1993-01-01

    Software Configuration Management is directed towards identifying system configuration at specific points of its life cycle, so as to control changes to the configuration and to maintain the integrity and traceability of the configuration throughout its life. SCM functions and tasks are presented in the paper

  2. A critical review of survey-based research in supply chain integration

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    van der Vaart, Taco; van Donk, Dirk Pieter

    Supply chain (SC) integration is considered one of the major factors in improving performance. Based upon some concerns regarding the constructs, measurements and items used, this paper analyses survey-based research with respect to the relationship between SC integration and performance. The review

  3. The D(D3)-anyon chain: integrable boundary conditions and excitation spectra

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Finch, Peter E; Frahm, Holger

    2013-01-01

    Chains of interacting non-Abelian anyons with local interactions invariant under the action of the Drinfeld double of the dihedral group D 3 are constructed. Formulated as a spin chain the Hamiltonians are generated from commuting transfer matrices of an integrable vertex model for periodic and braided as well as open boundaries. A different anyonic model with the same local Hamiltonian is obtained within the fusion path formulation. This model is shown to be related to an integrable fusion interaction round the face model. Bulk and surface properties of the anyon chain are computed from the Bethe equations for the spin chain. The low-energy effective theories and operator content of the models (in both the spin chain and fusion path formulation) are identified from analytical and numerical studies of the finite-size spectra. For all boundary conditions considered the continuum theory is found to be a product of two conformal field theories. Depending on the coupling constants the factors can be a Z 4 parafermion or a M (5,6) minimal model. (paper)

  4. The configuration-driven table CI method and comparison with integral-driven CI procedures

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Buenker, R.J.

    1980-01-01

    A new configuration-driven CI algorithm is outlined which eliminates the need for explicit comparison of pairs of Slater determinants through the use of a series of compact tables. In this scheme each pair of configurations is either shown to be non-interacting or to fall into one of nine cases, each of which is characterized fully once certain orbital permutations are determined. The program is divided into three parts: a case structure analysis step including integral label generation, a sort of the required electron repulsion integrals, and finally a procedure in which the foregoing information is combined with tabulated directions for the evaluation of the necessary Hamiltonian matrix elements over spin-adapted functions. Timing improvements of up to more than a factor of four have been achieved with the new algorithm

  5. A multi-objective fuzzy mathematical approach for sustainable reverse supply chain configuration

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jyoti D. Darbari

    2017-03-01

    Full Text Available Background: Designing and implementation of reverse logistics (RL network which meets the sustainability targets have been a matter of emerging concern for the electronics companies in India. Objectives: The present study developed a two-phase model for configuration of sustainable RL network design for an Indian manufacturing company to manage its end-of-life and endof-use electronic products. The notable feature of the model was the evaluation of facilities under financial, environmental and social considerations and integration of the facility selection decisions with the network design. Method: In the first phase, an integrated Analytical Hierarchical Process Complex Proportional Assessment methodology was used for the evaluation of the alternative locations in terms of their degree of utility, which in turn was based on the three dimensions of sustainability. In the second phase, the RL network was configured as a bi-objective programming problem, and fuzzy optimisation approach was utilised for obtaining a properly efficient solution to the problem. Results: The compromised solution attained by the proposed fuzzy model demonstrated that the cost differential for choosing recovery facilities with better environmental and social performance was not significant; therefore, Indian manufacturers must not compromise on the sustainability aspects for facility location decisions. Conclusion: The results reaffirmed that the bi-objective fuzzy decision-making model can serve as a decision tool for the Indian manufacturers in designing a sustainable RL network. The multi-objective optimisation model captured a reasonable trade-off between the fuzzy goals of minimising the cost of the RL network and maximising the sustainable performance of the facilities chosen.

  6. Integrable spin chains and scattering amplitudes

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Bartels, J.; Prygarin, A. [Hamburg Univ. (Germany). 2. Inst. fuer Theoretische Physik; Lipatov, L.N. [Hamburg Univ. (Germany). 2. Inst. fuer Theoretische Physik; Petersburg Nuclear Physics Institute (Russian Federation); Sankt-Peterburgskij Univ., St. Petersburg (Russian Federation)

    2011-04-15

    In this review we show that the multi-particle scattering amplitudes in N=4 SYM at large N{sub c} and in the multi-Regge kinematics for some physical regions have the high energy behavior appearing from the contribution of the Mandelstam cuts in the complex angular momentum plane of the corresponding t-channel partial waves. These Mandelstam cuts or Regge cuts are resulting from gluon composite states in the adjoint representation of the gauge group SU(N{sub c}). In the leading logarithmic approximation (LLA) their contribution to the six point amplitude is in full agreement with the known two-loop result. The Hamiltonian for the Mandelstam states constructed from n gluons in LLA coincides with the local Hamiltonian of an integrable open spin chain. We construct the corresponding wave functions using the integrals of motion and the Baxter-Sklyanin approach. (orig.)

  7. Modelling and simulation of the integration of the supply chain of forward and backward type

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Roman Domański

    2015-03-01

    Full Text Available Background: The integration, besides synergy and convergence, is regarded as a leading orientation in modern logistics. The connection of various participants within supply chains enables the integration of actions and allows to fulfill growing customers' demands in an effective and economically efficient way.  In times of a concept of the balanced development, growing interest in utilization of recycled material, connected with possibilities to consolidate  logistic activities, can be observed. According to the scientific literature (integration models as well as practical business cases, supply chains of forward and backward type (two-directional are the area of logistics of the intensive development.    Material and methods: The paper presents the Authors' model and methodology of modeling of the integration of supply chains, which realizes the flows of forward and backward type (two-directions. The empirical material was obtained during modeling and simulation of processes in the environment of iGrafx Process 2013 for Six Sigma with the support of Minitab 17 (for planning of experiments.  The method of the verification of statistical hypotheses was used. As a first step, the correlation between the level of the integration and the global service level for the supply chain was conducted using the method of Pearson's coefficient. The test of relevance of correlation coefficient was conducted by the use of t-distribution method. Then the verification of statistical hypotheses was made, based on the method using the Z-statistics. Results: The obtained results indicate clearly the strong relationship between the level of the integration of a supply chain and the obtained service level (values of Pearson's correlation coefficient and results of t-test. The detailed statistical researches of authors indicate that the increased level of the integration leads to the increase of the average value of service level coefficient (results of Z

  8. Nash Game Model for Optimizing Market Strategies, Configuration of Platform Products in a Vendor Managed Inventory (VMI) Supply Chain for a Product Family

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Y. Yu (Yugang); G.Q. Huang (George)

    2009-01-01

    textabstractThis paper discusses how a manufacturer and its retailers interact with each other to optimize their product marketing strategies, platform product configuration and inventory policies in a VMI (Vendor Managed Inventory) supply chain. The manufacturer procures raw materials from multiple

  9. Software Configuration Management Plan for the K West Basin Integrated Water Treatment System (IWTS) - Project A.9

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    GREEN, J.W.

    2000-01-01

    This document provides a configuration control plan for the software associated with the operation and control of the Integrated Water Treatment System (IWTS). It establishes requirements for ensuring configuration item identification, configuration control, configuration status accounting, defect reporting and resolution of computer software. It is written to comply with HNF-SD-SNF-CM-001, Spent Nuclear Fuel Configuration Management Plan (Forehand 1998) and HNF-PRO-309 Computer Software Quality Assurance Requirements, and applicable sections of administrative procedure CM-6-037-00, SNF Project Process Automation Software and Equipment

  10. Supply Chain Management and Business Sustainability Synergy: A Theoretical and Integrated Perspective

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Zabihollah Rezaee

    2018-01-01

    Full Text Available Global business organizations face the challenges of adapting proper sustainability strategies and practices to effectively respond to social, ethical, environmental, and governance issues while improving financial performance in creating value for their shareholders. Business sustainability enables the integration of financial economic sustainability performance and non-financial environmental, social, ethical, and governance sustainability performance dimensions into the corporate culture, supply chain management and business models in creating shared value for all stakeholders. Business literature has provided mixed evidence of the tension, and possible link, between financial and non-financial sustainability performance dimensions and sustainability theories have yet to sufficiently address this tension. This paper attempts to fill this void by shedding light on the link between various dimensions of sustainability performance, their integrated effect on creating shared value for all stakeholders and their implications for supply chain sustainability. This paper examines the synergy between business sustainability and supply chain management by presenting a framework consisting of sustainability theories, sustainability performance dimensions, sustainability shared value concept, and sustainability best practices. Companies can use the suggested framework in integrating both financial and non-financial sustainability initiatives into their supply chain sustainability from production design, purchasing and inbound logistics, and manufacturing process to distribution and outbound logistics.

  11. Integration of Inter-Organisational Learning with Supply Chain Management: A Literature Review

    OpenAIRE

    Masimuddin Mohd Khaled

    2013-01-01

    This paper subsidises to the discussion of inter-organisational learning. This study has a main aim which is to examine the inter-organisational learning from a supply chain perspective. The integration and importance of supply chain with inter-organisational learning till date is discussed. The steps that are involved in the consideration of inter-organisational learning are looked throughout with emphasis done to supply chain management. The paper studies the impact of absorptive capacity, ...

  12. The integrable quantum group invariant A2n-1(2) and Dn+1(2) open spin chains

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nepomechie, Rafael I.; Pimenta, Rodrigo A.; Retore, Ana L.

    2017-11-01

    A family of A2n(2) integrable open spin chains with Uq (Cn) symmetry was recently identified in arxiv:arXiv:1702.01482. We identify here in a similar way a family of A2n-1(2) integrable open spin chains with Uq (Dn) symmetry, and two families of Dn+1(2) integrable open spin chains with Uq (Bn) symmetry. We discuss the consequences of these symmetries for the degeneracies and multiplicities of the spectrum. We propose Bethe ansatz solutions for two of these models, whose completeness we check numerically for small values of n and chain length N. We find formulas for the Dynkin labels in terms of the numbers of Bethe roots of each type, which are useful for determining the corresponding degeneracies. In an appendix, we briefly consider Dn+1(2) chains with other integrable boundary conditions, which do not have quantum group symmetry.

  13. The integrable quantum group invariant A2n−1(2 and Dn+1(2 open spin chains

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Rafael I. Nepomechie

    2017-11-01

    Full Text Available A family of A2n(2 integrable open spin chains with Uq(Cn symmetry was recently identified in arXiv:1702.01482. We identify here in a similar way a family of A2n−1(2 integrable open spin chains with Uq(Dn symmetry, and two families of Dn+1(2 integrable open spin chains with Uq(Bn symmetry. We discuss the consequences of these symmetries for the degeneracies and multiplicities of the spectrum. We propose Bethe ansatz solutions for two of these models, whose completeness we check numerically for small values of n and chain length N. We find formulas for the Dynkin labels in terms of the numbers of Bethe roots of each type, which are useful for determining the corresponding degeneracies. In an appendix, we briefly consider Dn+1(2 chains with other integrable boundary conditions, which do not have quantum group symmetry.

  14. Integrating Poverty and Environmental Concerns into Value-Chain Analysis: A Conceptual Framework

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Bolwig, Simon; Ponte, Stefano; du Toit, Andries

    2010-01-01

    Many policy prescriptions emphasise poverty reduction through closer integration of poor people or areas with global markets. Global value chain (GVC) studies reveal how firms and farms in developing countries are upgraded by being integrated in global markets, but few explicitly document...

  15. To develop an integrated model for green supply chain | Tajabadi ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Supply chain management is a set of techniques used for effective and efficient integration of suppliers, manufacturers, warehouses and dealers in such a ... Since the important role of three factors of localization, routing and assignment is not ...

  16. [Application of supply chain integration management of medical consumables].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhang, Jian

    2013-07-01

    This paper introduces the background, the content, the information management system of material supply chain integration management and the consumables management process. The system helps to expand the selection of hospital supplies varieties, to reduce consumables management costs, to improve the efficiency of supplies, to ensure supplies safety, reliability and traceability.

  17. Advanced Value Chain Collaboration in Ghana's Cocoa Sector: An Entry Point for Integrated Landscape Approaches?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Deans, Howard; Ros-Tonen, Mirjam A F; Derkyi, Mercy

    2017-04-15

    Value chain analyses have focused mainly on collaboration between chain actors, often neglecting collaboration "beyond the chain" with non-chain actors to tackle food security, poverty and sustainability issues in the landscapes in which these value chains are embedded. Comparing conventional and advanced value chain collaborations involving small-scale cocoa farmers in Ghana, this paper analyzes the merits of a more integrated approach toward value chain collaboration. It particularly asks whether advanced value chain collaboration targeting cocoa-producing areas potentially offers an entry point for implementing a landscape approach. The findings detail current chain actors and institutions and show how advanced value chain collaboration has a greater positive impact than conventional value chain collaboration on farmers' social, human and natural capital. The paper concludes that the integrated approach, focus on learning, and stable relationships with small-scale farmers inherent in advanced value chain collaboration makes it both more sustainable and effective at the local level than conventional approaches. However, its scope and the actors' jurisdictional powers and self-organization are too limited to be the sole tool in negotiating land use and trade-offs at the landscape level. To evolve as such would require certification beyond the farm level, partnering with other landscape stakeholders, and brokering by bridging organizations.

  18. An analysis of the direct and mediated effects of employee commitment and supply chain integration on organisational performance

    OpenAIRE

    Alfalla-Luque, Rafaela; Marín García, Juan Antonio; Medina-Lopez, Carmen

    2015-01-01

    This paper focuses on the interrelationships among the different dimensions of supply chain integration. Specifically, it examines the relationship between employee commitment and supply chain integration dimensions to explain several performance measures, such as flexibility, delivery, quality, inventory and customer satisfaction. Very little research has been conducted onto this topic, since employee commitment is rarely included as an antecedent of the effect of supply chain integration on...

  19. Open spin chains in super Yang-Mills at higher loops: some potential problems with integrability

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Agarwal, Abhishek

    2006-01-01

    The super Yang-Mills duals of open strings attached to maximal giant gravitons are studied in perturbation theory. It is shown that non-BPS baryonic excitations of the gauge theory can be studied within the paradigm of open quantum spin chains even beyond the leading order in perturbation theory. The open spin chain describing the two loop mixing of non-BPS giant gravitons charged under an su(2) of the so(6) R symmetry group is explicitly constructed. It is also shown that although the corresponding open spin chain is integrable at the one loop order, there is a potential breakdown of integrability at two and higher loops. The study of integrability is performed using coordinate Bethe ansatz techniques

  20. The effects of different supply chain integration strategies under disruptions : A simulation study

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Zhu, Quan; Krikke, Harold; Caniels, M.C.J.; Pawar, K.S.; Rogers, H.; Ferrari, E.

    2015-01-01

    Complex and tightly coupled supply chains are more vulnerable to disruptions. To alleviate the harmful impacts, supply chain integration (SCI) has been highlighted by recent literatures. However, such literatures primarily focus on a general or mixed view of SCI rather than separately looking at SCI

  1. The Multicultural Identity Integration Scale (MULTIIS): Developing a comprehensive measure for configuring one's multiple cultural identities within the self.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yampolsky, Maya A; Amiot, Catherine E; de la Sablonnière, Roxane

    2016-04-01

    The research investigating how one's multiple cultural identities are configured within the self has yet to account for existing cultural identity configurations aside from integration, and for identifying with more than 2 cultural groups at once. The current research addresses these issues by constructing the Multicultural Identity Integration Scale (MULTIIS) to examine 3 different multicultural identity configurations, and their relationship to well-being based on Amiot and colleagues' (2007) cognitive-developmental model of social identity integration (CDSMII). Diverse samples of multicultural individuals completed the MULTIIS along with identity and well-being measures. (Study 1A: N = 407; 1B: N = 310; 2A = 338 and 2A = 254) RESULTS: Reliability and confirmatory factorial analyses (Studies 1A and 2A) all supported the factorial structure of the MULTIIS. Regression analyses (Studies 1B and 2B) confirmed that the integration subscale of the MULTIIS positively predicted well-being, whereas compartmentalization negatively predicted well-being. Categorization was inconsistently related to well-being. These findings support the CDSMII and the usefulness of the MULTIIS measure, and suggest that each identity configuration is uniquely related to well-being outcomes. (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved).

  2. Techno-economic analysis of biofuel production considering logistic configurations.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Li, Qi; Hu, Guiping

    2016-04-01

    In the study, a techno-economic analysis method considering logistic configurations is proposed. The economic feasibility of a low temperature biomass gasification pathway and an integrated pathway with fast pyrolysis and bio-oil gasification are evaluated and compared with the proposed method in Iowa. The results show that both pathways are profitable, biomass gasification pathway could achieve an Internal Rate of Return (IRR) of 10.00% by building a single biorefinery and integrated bio-oil gasification pathway could achieve an IRR of 3.32% by applying decentralized supply chain structure. A Monte-Carlo simulation considering interactions among parameters is also proposed and conducted, which indicates that both pathways are at high risk currently. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  3. Configuration-defined control algorithms with the ASDEX Upgrade DCS

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Treutterer, Wolfgang, E-mail: Wolfgang.Treutterer@ipp.mpg.de [Max-Planck-Institut für Plasmaphysik, Boltzmannstr. 2, 85748 Garching (Germany); Cole, Richard [Unlimited Computer Systems, Seeshaupter Str. 15, 82393 Iffeldorf Germany (Germany); Gräter, Alexander [Max-Planck-Institut für Plasmaphysik, Boltzmannstr. 2, 85748 Garching (Germany); Lüddecke, Klaus [Unlimited Computer Systems, Seeshaupter Str. 15, 82393 Iffeldorf Germany (Germany); Neu, Gregor; Rapson, Christopher; Raupp, Gerhard; Zehetbauer, Thomas [Max-Planck-Institut für Plasmaphysik, Boltzmannstr. 2, 85748 Garching (Germany)

    2016-11-15

    Highlights: • Control algorithm built from combination of pre-fabricated standard function blocks. • Seamless integration in multi-threaded computation context. • Block composition defined by configuration data, only. - Abstract: The ASDEX Upgrade Discharge Control System (DCS) is a distributed real-time control system executing complex control and monitoring tasks. Up to now, DCS control algorithms have been implemented by coding dedicated application processes with the C++ programming language. Algorithm changes required code modification, compilation and commissioning which only experienced programmers could perform. This was a significant constraint of flexibility for both control system operation and design. The new approach extends DCS with the capability of configuration-defined control algorithms. These are composed of chains of small, configurable standard function blocks providing general purpose functions like algebraic operations, filters, feedback controllers, output limiters and decision logic. In a later phase a graphical editor could help to compose and modify such configuration in a Simulink-like fashion. Building algorithms from standard functions can result in a high number of elements. In order to achieve a similar performance as with C++ coding, it is essential to avoid administrative bottlenecks by design. As a consequence, DCS executes a function block chain in the context of a single real-time thread of an application process. No concurrency issues as in a multi-threaded context need to be considered resulting in strongly simplified signal handling and zero performance overhead for inter-block communication. Instead of signal-driven synchronization, a block scheduler derives the execution sequence automatically from the block dependencies as defined in the configuration. All blocks and connecting signals are instantiated dynamically, based on definitions in a configuration file. Algorithms thus are not defined in the code but only in

  4. Creating integral value for stakeholders in closed loop supply chains

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Schenkel, Maren; Krikke, Harold; Caniëls, Marjolein CJ; van der Laan, Erwin

    This paper contributes to the existing literature by researching integral value creation in closed loop supply chains (CLSCs). We distinguish between multiple types of business value, strategic success factors, and multiple groups of stakeholders that affect and are affected by CLSC activities. To

  5. Supply chain integration in the South African conveyancing environment

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Anthea P. Amadi-Echendu

    2016-05-01

    , eliminate bottlenecks and contribute towards efforts to optimise the conveyancing supply chain in South Africa. In addition, it is also recommended that the South African deeds registry implement an electronic system which would allow for the electronic lodging of property transfers. Keywords: e-conveyancing; electronic processes; digitisation of data; supply chain management; integration

  6. Supply chain integration in the product return process: A study of consumer electronics retailers

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Wynand Mostert

    2017-07-01

    Contribution: Academically, this study expands the literature on supply chain integration in an unexplored context. For managers, this study identifies various reverse logistics integration barriers and details what practices and strategies improve the probability of successful integration efforts.

  7. A Technology Selection Framework for Integrating Manufacturing within a Supply Chain

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Farooq, Sami; O' Brien, Chris

    2012-01-01

    This paper describes a structured analytical approach for selecting a manufacturing technology. A framework consisting of six integrated steps is proposed by considering the growing importance of supply chains in manufacturing organisations. The framework makes use of Analytical Hierarchy (AHP......) approach combined with Strategic Assessment Model (SAM) to evaluate and select the technologies appropriate for providing overall competitive advantage. The framework is intended to assist industrial managers in promoting manufacturing and supply chain collaboration and coordination by including intra...

  8. On understanding of external and internal integration in supply chains : Challenges and evaluation

    OpenAIRE

    HULTHÉN, HANA

    2016-01-01

    Benefits of implementing Supply Chain Integration (SCI) are acknowledged in existing integration literature. Integration extending beyond functional silos and firm boundaries is expected to provide value for customers in terms of higher quality, improved service level, and reduced costs. In addition, internal integration allows business functions to align around a single company goal. This type of integration promotes value creation while decreasing redundancies and costs. Yet, regardless of ...

  9. Governance In Project Configured Supply Chains

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Koch, Christian; Larsen, Casper Schultz; Gottlieb, Stefan Christoffer

    2006-01-01

    are integrated knowledge, material, workforce and management subsystem deliveries (the building core produced of pre-cast concrete, the elevator supply and the kitchen supply). Further 17 deliveries draws on more than 50 materials and component suppliers. The case project generated 160 failures over three months......This case study covers a Danish architectural, engineering and construction supply network for a specific building project. Failures in supply are used as indicators of the governance forms employed. The following governance forms are present; internal integration and hierarchy, SCM......-efforts, subsystem deliveries and contracting per project. The case exhibits a very uneven integration upstream: Three engineering design areas are integrated with production and the client function. Amongst supplies, the architectural design is the most 'clean-cut' knowledge supply, whereas the supplies...

  10. An integrated multi-stage supply chain inventory model with imperfect production process

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Soumita Kundu

    2015-09-01

    Full Text Available This paper deals with an integrated multi-stage supply chain inventory model with the objective of cost minimization by synchronizing the replenishment decisions for procurement, production and delivery activities. The supply chain structure examined here consists of a single manufacturer with multi-buyer where manufacturer orders a fixed quantity of raw material from outside suppliers, processes the materials and delivers the finished products in unequal shipments to each customer. In this paper, we consider an imperfect production system, which produces defective items randomly and assumes that all defective items could be reworked. A simple algorithm is developed to obtain an optimal production policy, which minimizes the expected average total cost of the integrated production-inventory system.

  11. Reactor Configuration Development for ARIES-CS

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ku LP

    2005-01-01

    New compact, quasi-axially symmetric stellarator configurations have been developed as part of the ARIES-CS reactor studies. These new configurations have good plasma confinement and transport properties, including low losses of α particles and good integrity of flux surfaces at high β. We summarize the recent progress by showcasing two attractive classes of configurations--configurations with judiciously chosen rotational transforms to avoid undesirable effects of low order resonances on the flux surface integrity and configurations with very small aspect ratios (∼2.5) that have excellent quasi-axisymmetry and low field ripples

  12. The paradigm of consumer-driven and responsive supply chains: An integrated project approach

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Zimmermann, K.L.; Lans, van der I.A.

    2009-01-01

    This paper describes an integrated project approach that forms the basis of the studies on consumer-driven innovative and responsive supply chains in ISAFRUIT Pillar 1. This integrated approach leads to a wide range of indepth results on trends, preferences, and innovativeness of the European

  13. Equilibrium dynamical correlations in the Toda chain and other integrable models

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kundu, Aritra; Dhar, Abhishek

    2016-12-01

    We investigate the form of equilibrium spatiotemporal correlation functions of conserved quantities in the Toda lattice and in other integrable models. From numerical simulations we find that the correlations satisfy ballistic scaling with a remarkable collapse of data from different times. We examine special limiting choices of parameter values, for which the Toda lattice tends to either the harmonic chain or the equal mass hard-particle gas. In both these limiting cases, one can obtain the correlations exactly and we find excellent agreement with the direct Toda simulation results. We also discuss a transformation to "normal mode" variables, as commonly done in hydrodynamic theory of nonintegrable systems, and find that this is useful, to some extent, even for the integrable system. The striking differences between the Toda chain and a truncated version, expected to be nonintegrable, are pointed out.

  14. The Energy-Water Nexus: An Analysis and Comparison of Various Configurations Integrating Desalination with Renewable Power

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Gary M. Gold

    2015-04-01

    Full Text Available This investigation studies desalination powered by wind and solar energy, including a study of a configuration using PVT solar panels. First, a water treatment was developed to estimate the power requirement for brackish groundwater reverse-osmosis (BWRO desalination. Next, an energy model was designed to (1 size a wind farm based on this power requirement and (2 size a solar farm to preheat water before reverse osmosis treatment. Finally, an integrated model was developed that combines results from the water treatment and energy models. The integrated model optimizes performances of the proposed facility to maximize daily operational profits. Results indicate that integrated facility can reduce grid-purchased electricity costs by 88% during summer months and 89% during winter when compared to a stand-alone desalination plant. Additionally, the model suggests that the integrated configuration can generate $574 during summer and $252 during winter from sales of wind- and solar-generated electricity to supplement revenue from water production. These results indicate that an integrated facility combining desalination, wind power, and solar power can potentially reduce reliance on grid-purchased electricity and advance the use of renewable power.

  15. An Assessment Tool to Integrate Sustainability Principles into the Global Supply Chain

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    María Jesús Muñoz-Torres

    2018-02-01

    Full Text Available The integration of sustainability principles into the assessment of companies along the supply chains is a growing research area. However, there is an absence of a generally accepted method to evaluate corporate sustainability performance (CSP, and the models and frameworks proposed by the literature present various important challenges to be addressed. A systematic literature review on the supply chain at the corporate level has been conducted, analyzing the main strengths and gaps in the sustainability assessment literature. Therefore, this paper aims to contribute to the development of this field by proposing an assessment framework a leading company can adopt to expand sustainability principles to the rest of the members of the supply chain. This proposal is based on best practices and integrates and shares efforts with key initiatives (for instance, the Organizational Environmental Footprint from the European Commission and United Nations Environment Programme and the Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry UNEP/SETAC; moreover, it overcomes important limitations of the current sustainability tools in a supply chain context consistent with the circular economy, the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs, planetary boundaries, and social foundation requirements. The results obtained create, on the one hand, new opportunities for academics; and, on the other hand, in further research, the use of this framework could be a means of actively engaging companies in their supply chains and of achieving the implementation of practical and comprehensive CSP assessment.

  16. Integrated forward and reverse supply chain: A tire case study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pedram, Ali; Yusoff, Nukman Bin; Udoncy, Olugu Ezutah; Mahat, Abu Bakar; Pedram, Payam; Babalola, Ayo

    2017-02-01

    This paper attempts to integrate both a forward and reverse supply chain to design a closed-loop supply chain network (CLSC). The problem in the design of a CLSC network is uncertainty in demand, return products and the quality of return products. Scenario analyses are generated to overcome this uncertainty. In contrast to the existing supply chain network design models, a new application of a CLSC network was studied in this paper to reduce waste. A multi-product, multi-tier mixed integer linear model is developed for a CLSC network design. The main objective is to maximize profit and provide waste management decision support in order to minimize pollution. The result shows applicability of the model in the tire industry. The model determines the number and the locations of facilities and the material flows between these facilities. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  17. A literature analysis of Walmart’s supply chain excellence in term of integration, distribution and operations

    OpenAIRE

    Jawad, Stevan

    2017-01-01

    This literature-based qualitative case study examines the world’s leading retailing company Walmart to investigate whether Walmart possesses supply chain excellence in terms of integration, distribution and operations and yet saves costs. Supply Chain Management efficiency is essential for most businesses and crucial to customer satisfaction and company success. The literature studied involves retail industry supply chain activities and certain retail supply chain transformation elements ...

  18. Integration of internet of things to reduce various losses of jatropha seed supply chain

    Science.gov (United States)

    Srinivasan, S. P.; Anitha, J.; Vijayakumar, R.

    2017-06-01

    The evolution of bio fuel supply chain has revolutionized the organization by restructuring the practices of the traditional management. A flexible distribution system is becoming the need of our society. The main focus of this paper is to integrate IoT technologies into a cultivation, extraction and management of Jatropha seed. It was noticed that major set-back of farmers due to poor supply chain integration. The various losses like information about the Jatropha seed availability, the location of esterification plants and distribution details are identified through this IoT. This enables the farmers to reorganize the land resources, yield estimation and distribution functions. The wastage and the scarcity of energy can be tackled by using the smart phone technologies. This paper is proposes a conceptual frame work on various losses involved in the supply chain of Jatropha seed.

  19. Integrating Closed-loop Supply Chains and Spare Parts Management at IBM

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    M. Fleischmann (Moritz); J.A.E.E. van Nunen (Jo); B. Graeve

    2002-01-01

    textabstractEver more companies are recognizing the benefits of closed-loop supply chains that integrate product returns into business operations. IBM has been among the pioneers seeking to unlock the value dormant in these resources. We report on a project exploiting product returns as a source of

  20. The synergistic and complementary effects of supply chain justice and integration practices on supply chain performance: A conceptual framework and research propositions

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Muhammad Ziaullah

    2015-11-01

    Full Text Available In recent years, firms have been using their supply chain integration (SCI as a competitive weapon in the intensive, globalised competitive arena. The contingent perspective in supply chain management maintains that it is necessary to observe the interaction between SCI practices and supply chain justice. A critical issue to be resolved is whether this fit leads to synergistic and complementary effects on supply chain performance. In order to contribute to this research problem, we analysed supply chain justice instances in order to determine the importance of supply chain justice, as well as highlights complementary role in SCI and its influences on supply chain performance. A conceptual framework has been developed and five propositions established to verify the contents of a theoretical study. Accordingly, balancing the adoption of SCI practices and supply chain justice will lead to the generation of greater benefits relative to the effect of both independent driving forces on supply chain performance. Furthermore, the proposed framework has been analysed in order to examine its applicability in the South African context. The study thereby suggests the empirical research guidelines and the paper concludes with a discussion of future research.

  1. Requirements of supply chain management in differentiating European pork chains.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Trienekens, Jacques; Wognum, Nel

    2013-11-01

    This paper summarizes results obtained by research into pork chain management in the EU Integrated Project Q-Porkchains. Changing demands for intrinsic and extrinsic quality attributes of pork products impact the way supply chain management should be organized from the farmer down to the consumer. The paper shows the importance of Quality Management Systems for integrating supply chains and enhancing consumer confidence. The paper also presents innovations in information system integration for aligning information exchange in the supply chain and logistics concepts based on innovative measurement technologies at the slaughterhouse stage. In the final section research challenges towards sustainable pork supply chains satisfying current consumer demands are presented. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  2. Integrable open spin chain in Super Yang-Mills and the plane-wave/SYM duality

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Chen Bin; Wang Xiaojun; Wu Yongshi

    2004-01-01

    We investigate the integrable structures in an N = 2 superconfomal Sp(N) Yang-Mills theory with matter, which is dual to an open+closed string system. We restrict ourselves to the BMN operators that correspond to free string states. In the closed string sector, an integrable structure is inherited from its parent theory, N = 4 SYM. For the open string sector, the planar one-loop mixing matrix for gauge invariant holomorphic operators is identified with the Hamiltonian of an integrable SU(3) open spin chain. Using the K-matrix formalism we identify the integrable open-chain boundary conditions that correspond to string boundary conditions. The solutions to the algebraic Bethe ansatz equations (ABAE) with a few impurities are shown to recover the anomalous dimensions that exactly match the spectrum of free open string in the plane-wave background. We also discuss the properties of the solutions of ABAE beyond the BMN regime. (author)

  3. Analyzing the effects of information technology on supply chain integration: The role of ERP success mediator

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Samaneh Alimohamadian

    2014-04-01

    Full Text Available This research analyzes the effects of Information Technology (IT on Supply Chain Integration (SCI through ERP mediator by proposing a conceptual model among these components. We also hypothesize that three constructs of IT influence on enterprise resource planning (ERP success and one construct of ERP success influences on SCI. To clarify the relationships among the constructs, structural equation model (SEM is conducted to examine the model fit and seven hypotheses. The data was collected from three Iranian firms through questionnaire with 23 questions adopted by past researches. The results confirmed that top management support of IT and employees’ general IT skills factors of IT enhance ERP success, and ERP success positively influences on Supply Chain Integration, so these two IT factors influence Supply Chain Integration through ERP success. Our data unsupported negative impact of satisfaction with legacy IT system on ERP success.

  4. Configuration management at NEK

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Podhraski, M.

    1999-01-01

    Configuration Management (CM) objectives at NEK are to ensure consistency between Design Requirements, Physical Plant Configuration and Configuration Information. Software applications, supporting Design Change, Work Control and Document Control Processes, are integrated in one module-oriented Management Information System (MIS). Master Equipment Component List (MECL) database is central MIS module. Through a combination of centralized database and process migrated activities it is ensured that the CM principles and requirements (accurate, current design data matching plant's physical configuration while complying to applicable requirements), are followed and fulfilled.(author)

  5. Are Local Food Chains More Sustainable than Global Food Chains? Considerations for Assessment

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Gianluca Brunori

    2016-05-01

    Full Text Available This paper summarizes the main findings of the GLAMUR project which starts with an apparently simple question: is “local” more sustainable than “global”? Sustainability assessment is framed within a post-normal science perspective, advocating the integration of public deliberation and scientific research. The assessment spans 39 local, intermediate and global supply chain case studies across different commodities and countries. Assessment criteria cover environmental, economic, social, health and ethical sustainability dimensions. A closer view of the food system demonstrates a highly dynamic local–global continuum where actors, while adapting to a changing environment, establish multiple relations and animate several chain configurations. The evidence suggests caution when comparing “local” and “global” chains, especially when using the outcomes of the comparison in decision-making. Supply chains are analytical constructs that necessarily—and arbitrarily—are confined by system boundaries, isolating a set of elements from an interconnected whole. Even consolidated approaches, such as Life Cycle Assessment (LCA, assess only a part of sustainability attributes, and the interpretation may be controversial. Many sustainability attributes are not yet measurable and “hard” methodologies need to be complemented by “soft” methodologies which are at least able to identify critical issues and trade-offs. Aware of these limitations, our research shows that comparing local and global chains, with the necessary caution, can help overcome a priori positions that so far have characterized the debate between “localists” and “globalists”. At firm level, comparison between “local” and “global” chains could be useful to identify best practices, benchmarks, critical points, and errors to avoid. As sustainability is not a status to achieve, but a never-ending process, comparison and deliberation can be the basis of a

  6. Path-integral approach to the dynamics of a random chain with rigid constraints

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ferrari, Franco; Paturej, Jaroslaw; Vilgis, Thomas A.

    2008-01-01

    In this work the dynamics of a chain consisting of a set of beads attached to the ends of segments of fixed lengths is investigated. The chain fluctuates at constant temperature in a viscous medium. For simplicity, all interactions among the beads have been switched off and the number of spatial dimensions has been limited to two. In the limit in which the chain becomes a continuous system, its behavior may be described by a path integral, in which the rigid constraints coming from the infinitesimally small segments are imposed by means of a functional δ function. In this way a model of the dynamics of the chain is obtained, which closely resembles a two-dimensional nonlinear σ model. The partition function of this generalized nonlinear σ model is computed explicitly for a ring-shaped chain in the semiclassical approximation. The behavior of the chain at both long and short scales of time and distances is investigated. The connection between the generalized nonlinear σ model presented here and the Rouse model is discussed

  7. Opportunities and realities of supply chain integration : the case of food manufacturers

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    van Donk, Dirk Pieter; Akkerman, Renzo; van der Vaart, Taco

    2008-01-01

    Purpose - The purpose of the paper is to investigate the limitations and barriers for supply chain integration that food manufacturers experience and to highlight their planning and scheduling problems. Possible ways to cope with these are offered. Design/methodology/approach - The paper is

  8. Reliability modelling - PETROBRAS 2010 integrated gas supply chain

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Faertes, Denise; Heil, Luciana; Saker, Leonardo; Vieira, Flavia; Risi, Francisco; Domingues, Joaquim; Alvarenga, Tobias; Carvalho, Eduardo; Mussel, Patricia

    2010-09-15

    The purpose of this paper is to present the innovative reliability modeling of Petrobras 2010 integrated gas supply chain. The model represents a challenge in terms of complexity and software robustness. It was jointly developed by PETROBRAS Gas and Power Department and Det Norske Veritas. It was carried out with the objective of evaluating security of supply of 2010 gas network design that was conceived to connect Brazilian Northeast and Southeast regions. To provide best in class analysis, state of the art software was used to quantify the availability and the efficiency of the overall network and its individual components.

  9. Supply strategy configuration in fragmented production systems: An empirical study

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Claudia Chackelson

    2013-07-01

    Full Text Available Purpose: Companies survive in saturated markets trying to be more productive and more efficient. In this context, it becomes critical for companies to manage the entire supply network to optimize overall performance.  Hence, the supply strategy plays an important role because it influences the way in which production and logistics network has to be configured and managed. This paper explores the benefits obtained configuring different supply strategies adapted to customer needs.Design/methodology/approach: For this purpose a case research from a Tier 2 point of view of the supply chain has been conducted. Findings and Originality/value: The case research demonstrates that a higher service level, less holding costs and increase turnovers can be obtained implementing the adequate supply strategy. Originality/value: There is a scarcity of research specifically focused on applied Supply Chain Principles within network configuration processes. Moreover, there are few empirical studies of global Tier 2 with multiple decoupling points into its supply chain network.

  10. Development of an integrated configuration management/flight director system for piloted STOL approaches

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hoh, R. H.; Klein, R. H.; Johnson, W. A.

    1977-01-01

    A system analysis method for the development of an integrated configuration management/flight director system for IFR STOL approaches is presented. Curved descending decelerating approach trajectories are considered. Considerable emphasis is placed on satisfying the pilot centered requirements (acceptable workload) as well as the usual guidance and control requirements (acceptable performance). The Augmentor Wing Jet STOL Research Aircraft was utilized to allow illustration by example, and to validate the analysis procedure via manned simulation.

  11. Structure of the conversion laws in quantum integrable spin chains with short range interactions

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Grabowski, M.P.; Mathieu, P.

    1995-01-01

    The authors present a detailed analysis of the structure of the conservation laws in quantum integrable chains of the XYZ-type and in the Hubbard model. The essential tool for the former class of models is the boost operator, which provides a recursive way of calculating the integrals of motion. With its help, they establish the general form of the XYZ conserved charges in terms of simple polynomials in spin variables and derive recursion relations for the relative coefficients of these polynomials. Although these relations are difficult to solve in general, a subset of the coefficients can be determined. Moreover, for two submodels of the XYZ chain, namely the XXX and XY cases, all the charges can be calculated in closed form. Using this approach, the authors rederive the known expressions for the XY charges in a novel way. For the XXX case. a simple description of conserved charges is found in terms of a Catalan tree. This construction is generalized for the su(M) invariant integrable chain. They also investigate the circumstances permitting the existence of a recursive (ladder) operator in general quantum integrable systems. They indicate that a quantum ladder operator can be traced back to the presence of a Hamiltonian mastersymmetry of degree one in the classical continuous version of the model. In this way, quantum chains endowed with a recursive structure can be identified from the properties of their classical relatives. The authors also show that in the quantum continuous limits of the XYZ model, the ladder property of the boost operator disappears. For the Hubbard model they demonstrate the nonexistence of a ladder operator. Nevertheless, the general structure of the conserved charges is indicated, and the expression for the terms linear in the model's free parameter for all charges is derived in closed form. 62 refs., 4 figs

  12. System Dynamics Modeling on Integrated Supply Chain Management of Potato Agribusiness

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Lukman Hakim

    2017-12-01

    Full Text Available The objectives of this study is to design a model of integrated supply chain management of potato agribusiness in an effort to increase revenue and bargaining position of farmers in Aceh Province. The method applied to achieve these objectives was the methodology of system dynamics. Formulation of the models was conducted by using Vensim DSS Software, followed by simulation. The result of this study showed the role of five major scenarios which were important to actualize the integrated supply chain management of potato agribusiness in Aceh Province, those were: scenario 1, increasing the productive land area, resulting in the increasing of production volume; scenario 2, using the certified potato seed named “umbi G2”, generating the higher level of production; scenario 3, providing the certified potato seed based on the needs, showing that the quantity of production increased; scenario 4, shortening the payment receivables interval of farmers and cooperatives, which showing the increasing of cash amount; scenario 5, doing certification to the potato from synergistic partnerships farmers, showing the increasing of acceptance, profitability, R/C, and cash.

  13. Performance measurement of supply chain flexibility using witness

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Rituraj Chandrakar

    2012-10-01

    Full Text Available In today’s global scenario of intense competition and environmental uncertainty flexibility in supply chain has an important role to play for the existence of any supply chain business. A need to be responsive to the constantly changing market scenario and cater to the customer needs, a certain degree of flexibility is required, which requires the coordination of many plants to produce and deliver goods to customers located in different places, and suppliers, which provide each plant with the required components. This paper intends to measure the degree of flexibility required for a two stage supply chain and assessing both the supplier flexibility and the assembler flexibility. In this paper, nine configurations of the SC are considered resulting from the combination of the three degrees of supplier and manufacturer flexibility, i.e. no flexibility, limited flexibility and total flexibility, respectively. Simulation model representing the different flexibility configurations are evaluated and the performance of each configuration analyzed to determine the flexibility configuration suitable to a supply chain. In particular the performance analysis of lead time, work-in-process, service level and cost are measured to determine the suitable flexibility.

  14. Role of Third Party Logistics Providers with Advanced it to Increase Customer Satisfaction in Supply Chain Integration

    OpenAIRE

    Zaryab Sheikh; Shafaq Rana

    2012-01-01

    The main area of change in organizational strategy is the extensive use of third party logistics providers who are using advanced information technology tools and integration of supply chain to enhance customer satisfaction. By outsourcing the logistics operations, companies can focus on their core competencies and other important areas of organization which can’t be outsourced. The analysis of this paper is conducted by discussing different concepts of supply chain integration, customer sati...

  15. Integrated strategic and tactical biomass-biofuel supply chain optimization.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lin, Tao; Rodríguez, Luis F; Shastri, Yogendra N; Hansen, Alan C; Ting, K C

    2014-03-01

    To ensure effective biomass feedstock provision for large-scale biofuel production, an integrated biomass supply chain optimization model was developed to minimize annual biomass-ethanol production costs by optimizing both strategic and tactical planning decisions simultaneously. The mixed integer linear programming model optimizes the activities range from biomass harvesting, packing, in-field transportation, stacking, transportation, preprocessing, and storage, to ethanol production and distribution. The numbers, locations, and capacities of facilities as well as biomass and ethanol distribution patterns are key strategic decisions; while biomass production, delivery, and operating schedules and inventory monitoring are key tactical decisions. The model was implemented to study Miscanthus-ethanol supply chain in Illinois. The base case results showed unit Miscanthus-ethanol production costs were $0.72L(-1) of ethanol. Biorefinery related costs accounts for 62% of the total costs, followed by biomass procurement costs. Sensitivity analysis showed that a 50% reduction in biomass yield would increase unit production costs by 11%. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  16. The research on optimization of auto supply chain network robust model under macroeconomic fluctuations

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Guo, Chunxiang; Liu, Xiaoli; Jin, Maozhu; Lv, Zhihan

    2016-01-01

    Considering the uncertainty of the macroeconomic environment, the robust optimization method is studied for constructing and designing the automotive supply chain network, and based on the definition of robust solution a robust optimization model is built for integrated supply chain network design that consists of supplier selection problem and facility location–distribution problem. The tabu search algorithm is proposed for supply chain node configuration, analyzing the influence of the level of uncertainty on robust results, and by comparing the performance of supply chain network design through the stochastic programming model and robustness optimize model, on this basis, determining the rational layout of supply chain network under macroeconomic fluctuations. At last the contrastive test result validates that the performance of tabu search algorithm is outstanding on convergence and computational time. Meanwhile it is indicated that the robust optimization model can reduce investment risks effectively when it is applied to supply chain network design.

  17. Making alliances work -- Using a computer-based management system to integrate the supply chain

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Johnson, J.B.; Randolph, S.

    1995-01-01

    Traditionally, price has been king in the selection of suppliers and service companies in the upstream oil and gas market. Three years ago, Amoco began to question this selection practice and embarked on an extensive benchmarking effort that has led the company to a proven strategy for goods and services procurement called supply-chain management (SCM). However, the company found that managing compact, integrated supply chains is not always easy. Several implementation issues need to be reconciled for alliances to achieve their full bottom-line potential benefits consistently. Issues that must be resolved, whether they are called alliances, supply chains, or integrated services, are (1) whether these new working relationships are profitable for all the entities involved, from suppliers through to end users; (2) how to assess and improve risk management; (3) how to reduce total system costs; and (4) how to improve performance for each of the alliance members and for the alliance as a whole. This brief describes one possible solution to the complex issues involved in making alliances work: a computer-facilitated management system designed to integrate the work processes of different organizations. In the case described, the Drilling Management System (DMS) was developed and used by the Amoco (U.K.) Well Dept. The system uses off-the-shelf commercial software to improve the performance of the company's drilling operations by integrating the activities of the company and its suppliers

  18. Tracking control of a closed-chain five-bar robot with two degrees of freedom by integration of an approximation-based approach and mechanical design.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cheng, Long; Hou, Zeng-Guang; Tan, Min; Zhang, W J

    2012-10-01

    The trajectory tracking problem of a closed-chain five-bar robot is studied in this paper. Based on an error transformation function and the backstepping technique, an approximation-based tracking algorithm is proposed, which can guarantee the control performance of the robotic system in both the stable and transient phases. In particular, the overshoot, settling time, and final tracking error of the robotic system can be all adjusted by properly setting the parameters in the error transformation function. The radial basis function neural network (RBFNN) is used to compensate the complicated nonlinear terms in the closed-loop dynamics of the robotic system. The approximation error of the RBFNN is only required to be bounded, which simplifies the initial "trail-and-error" configuration of the neural network. Illustrative examples are given to verify the theoretical analysis and illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed algorithm. Finally, it is also shown that the proposed approximation-based controller can be simplified by a smart mechanical design of the closed-chain robot, which demonstrates the promise of the integrated design and control philosophy.

  19. Integrable multiparametric quantum spin chains

    CERN Document Server

    Förster, A; Roditi, I; Foerster, Angela; Links, Jon; Roditi, Itzhak

    1998-01-01

    Using Reshetikhin's construction for multiparametric quantum algebras we obtain the associated multiparametric quantum spin chains. We show that under certain restrictions these models can be mapped to quantum spin chains with twisted boundary conditions. We illustrate how this general formalism applies to construct multiparametric versions of the supersymmetric t-J and U models.

  20. A study of open strings ending on giant gravitons, spin chains and integrability

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Berenstein, David; Correa, Diego H.; Vazquez, Samuel E.

    2006-01-01

    We systematically study the spectrum of open strings attached to half BPS giant gravitons in the N = 4 SYM AdS/CFT setup. We find that some null trajectories along the giant graviton are actually null geodesics of AdS 5 x S 5 , so that we can study the problem in a plane wave limit setup. We also find the description of these states at weak 't Hooft coupling in the dual CFT. We show how the dual description is given by an open spin chain with variable number of sites. We analyze this system in detail and find numerical evidence for integrability. We also discover an interesting instability of long open strings in Ramond-Ramond backgrounds that is characterized by having a continuum spectrum of the string, which is separated from the ground state by a gap. This instability arises from accelerating the D-brane on which the strings end via the Ramond-Ramond field. From the integrable spin chain point of view, this instability prevents us from formulating the integrable structure in terms of a Bethe Ansatz construction

  1. Integrable spin chain of superconformal U(M) x U(N)-bar Chern-Simons theory

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bak, Dongsu; Gang, Dongmin; Rey, Soo-Jong

    2008-01-01

    N = 6 superconformal Chern-Simons theory with gauge group U(M) x U(N)-bar is dual to N M2-branes and (M-N) fractional M2-branes, equivalently, discrete 3-form holonomy at C 4 /Z k orbifold singularity. We show that, much like its regular counterpart of M = N, the theory at planar limit have integrability structure in the conformal dimension spectrum of single trace operators. We first revisit the Yang-Baxter equation for a spin chain system associated with the single trace operators. We show that the integrability by itself does not preclude parity symmetry breaking. We construct two-parameter family of parity non-invariant, alternating spin chain Hamiltonian involving three-site interactions between 4 and 4-bar of SU(4) R . At weak 't Hooft coupling, we study the Chern-Simons theory perturbatively and calculate anomalous dimension of single trace operators up to two loops. The computation is essentially parallel to the regular case M = N. We find that resulting spin chain Hamiltonian matches with the Hamiltonian derived from Yang-Baxter equation, but to the one preserving parity symmetry. We give several intuitive explanations why the parity symmetry breaking is not detected in the Chern-Simons spin chain Hamiltonian at perturbative level. We suggest that open spin chain, associated with open string excitations on giant gravitons or dibaryons, can detect discrete flat holonomy and hence parity symmetry breaking through boundary field.

  2. Value Chain Envy: Explaining New Entry and Vertical Integration in Popular Music

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Mol, J.M.; Wijnberg, N.M.; Carroll, C.

    2005-01-01

    The concepts of value creation, value capture, and value protection are employed to explain new entry and vertical integration. It is posited that if, at one stage of the value system, the share of value captured is disproportionally higher than the share of value created, value chain envy will

  3. Value chain envy : Explaining new entry and vertical integration in popular music

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Mol, J.M.; Wijnberg, N.M.; Carroll, C.

    The concepts of value creation, value capture, and value protection are employed to explain new entry and vertical integration. It is posited that if, at one stage of the value system, the share of value captured is disproportionally higher than the share of value created, value chain envy will

  4. Designing a Fuzzy Strategic Integrated Multiechelon Agile Supply Chain Network

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Morteza Abbasi

    2013-01-01

    Full Text Available This paper integrates production, distribution and logistics activities at the strategic decision making level, where the objective is to design a multiechelon supply chain network considering agility as a key design criterion. A network with five echelons of supply chains including suppliers, plants, distribution centers, cross-docks, and customer zones is addressed in this paper. The problem has been mathematically formulated as a biobjective optimization model that aims to minimize the cost (fixed and variable and maximize the plant flexibility and volume flexibility. A novel multiobjective parallel simulating annealing algorithm (MOPSA is proposed to obtain the Pareto-optimal solutions of the problem. The performance of the proposed solution algorithm is compared with two well-known metaheuristics, namely, nondominated sorting genetic algorithm (NSGA-II and Pareto archive evolution strategy (PAES. Computational results show that MOPSA outperforms the other metaheuristics.

  5. Innovation in Hungary - The Impact of EU Accession and Integration into Global Value Chains

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Szalavetz Andrea

    2014-11-01

    Full Text Available This paper argues that EU accession has brought about minimal changes in the patterns of innovation in Hungary. The reason why is not that the ‘EU factor’ is of minor importance; rather, it is Hungary's inability to use EU resources effectively, so as to fully benefit from EU membership. The Hungarian story also demonstrates that the EU cannot block member states from reversing reform or abusing the opportunities EU membership offers to them. We contend that globalization (global value chain integration has more effectively contributed to Hungary's knowledge-based upgrading than Europeanization (in the sense of policy transfer; access to EU Structural & Cohesion Funds, and integration in the European Research Area. This argument is substantiated with a case study on innovation strategy design and implementation, which illustrates the ambiguous impact of Europeanization, which is contrasted with our investigation of integration in global value chains, conducted through interviews of foreign-owned manufacturing companies about their R&D-based upgrading experience.

  6. B2B collaboration method through trust values for e-supply chain integrator: a case study of Malaysian construction industry

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ab. Aziz, Norshakirah; Ahmad, Rohiza; Dhanapal Durai, Dominic

    2011-12-01

    Limited trust, cooperation and communication have been identified as some of the issues that hinder collaboration among business partners. These one also true in the acceptance of e-supply chain integrator among organizations that involve in the same industry. On top of that, the huge number of components in supply chain industry also makes it impossible to include entire supply chain components in the integrator. Hence, this study intends to propose a method for identifying "trusted" collaborators for inclusion into an e-supply chain integrator. For the purpose of constructing and validating the method, the Malaysian construction industry is chosen as the case study due to its size and importance to the economy. This paper puts forward the background of the research, some relevant literatures which lead to trust values elements formulation, data collection from Malaysian Construction Supply Chain and a glimpse of the proposed method for trusted partner selection. Future work is also presented to highlight the next step of this research.

  7. The Wertheim integral equation theory with the ideal chain approximation and a dimer equation of state: Generalization to mixtures of hard-sphere chain fluids

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Chang, J.; Sandler, S.I.

    1995-01-01

    We have extended the Wertheim integral equation theory to mixtures of hard spheres with two attraction sites in order to model homonuclear hard-sphere chain fluids, and then solved these equations with the polymer-Percus--Yevick closure and the ideal chain approximation to obtain the average intermolecular and overall radial distribution functions. We obtain explicit expressions for the contact values of these distribution functions and a set of one-dimensional integral equations from which the distribution functions can be calculated without iteration or numerical Fourier transformation. We compare the resulting predictions for the distribution functions with Monte Carlo simulation results we report here for five selected binary mixtures. It is found that the accuracy of the prediction of the structure is the best for dimer mixtures and declines with increasing chain length and chain-length asymmetry. For the equation of state, we have extended the dimer version of the thermodynamic perturbation theory to the hard-sphere chain mixture by introducing the dimer mixture as an intermediate reference system. The Helmholtz free energy of chain fluids is then expressed in terms of the free energy of the hard-sphere mixture and the contact values of the correlation functions of monomer and dimer mixtures. We compared with the simulation results, the resulting equation of state is found to be the most accurate among existing theories with a relative average error of 1.79% for 4-mer/8-mer mixtures, which is the worst case studied in this work. copyright 1995 American Institute of Physics

  8. Assessing the level of integration in the offshore wind industry value chain

    OpenAIRE

    Martinez-Neri, Ivan; Mikkelsen, Ole Stegmann; Stentoft, Jan

    2014-01-01

    The offshore wind industry (OWI) has experienced an explosive growth within the course of a decade and because of this rapid expansion, the industry has not had the opportunity to integrate well and be-come more efficient. The aim of this paper is to contribute to the understanding of the integration level of the offshore wind industry value chain. The work relies on a review of international peer-reviewed journals. The empirical basis of the paper is based on interviews with key players in t...

  9. Evaluation of sustainable supply chain risk management using an integrated fuzzy TOPSIS- CRITIC approach

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Rostamzadeh, Reza; Ghorabaee, Mehdi Keshavarz; Govindan, Kannan

    2018-01-01

    Supply chain risk management research has mainly mistreated the important of sustainability issues. Moreover, there is little knowledge about sustainable management of risk and supply chain and the way they impose losses for firms. Risk management's duty in the supply chain is to identify, analyze......, and provide solutions for accountability, control and monitor the risks in the economic and production cycle. This study aims to develop a framework for the sustainable supply chain risk management (SSCRM) evaluation. To this end, an integrated fuzzy multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) approach is proposed...... based on the technique in order of preference by similarity to ideal solution (TOPSIS) and criteria importance through inter-criteria correlation (CRITIC) methods. The literature was reviewed and the potential criteria were identified. Through an expert panel the criteria were filtered. Seven main...

  10. Integrated supply chain design for commodity chemicals production via woody biomass fast pyrolysis and upgrading.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhang, Yanan; Hu, Guiping; Brown, Robert C

    2014-04-01

    This study investigates the optimal supply chain design for commodity chemicals (BTX, etc.) production via woody biomass fast pyrolysis and hydroprocessing pathway. The locations and capacities of distributed preprocessing hubs and integrated biorefinery facilities are optimized with a mixed integer linear programming model. In this integrated supply chain system, decisions on the biomass chipping methods (roadside chipping vs. facility chipping) are also explored. The economic objective of the supply chain model is to maximize the profit for a 20-year chemicals production system. In addition to the economic objective, the model also incorporates an environmental objective of minimizing life cycle greenhouse gas emissions, analyzing the trade-off between the economic and environmental considerations. The capital cost, operating cost, and revenues for the biorefinery facilities are based on techno-economic analysis, and the proposed approach is illustrated through a case study of Minnesota, with Minneapolis-St. Paul serving as the chemicals distribution hub. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  11. Configuration Management Plan for the Tank Farm Contractor

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    WEIR, W.R.

    2000-01-01

    The Configuration Management Plan for the Tank Farm Contractor describes configuration management the contractor uses to manage and integrate its technical baseline with the programmatic and functional operations to perform work. The Configuration Management Plan for the Tank Farm Contractor supports the management of the project baseline by providing the mechanisms to identify, document, and control the technical characteristics of the products, processes, and structures, systems, and components (SSC). This plan is one of the tools used to identify and provide controls for the technical baseline of the Tank Farm Contractor (TFC). The configuration management plan is listed in the management process documents for TFC as depicted in Attachment 1, TFC Document Structure. The configuration management plan is an integrated approach for control of technical, schedule, cost, and administrative processes necessary to manage the mission of the TFC. Configuration management encompasses the five functional elements of: (1) configuration management administration, (2) configuration identification, (3) configuration status accounting, (4) change control, and (5 ) configuration management assessments

  12. Configuration Management Plan for the Tank Farm Contractor

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    WEIR, W.R.

    2000-04-21

    The Configuration Management Plan for the Tank Farm Contractor describes configuration management the contractor uses to manage and integrate its technical baseline with the programmatic and functional operations to perform work. The Configuration Management Plan for the Tank Farm Contractor supports the management of the project baseline by providing the mechanisms to identify, document, and control the technical characteristics of the products, processes, and structures, systems, and components (SSC). This plan is one of the tools used to identify and provide controls for the technical baseline of the Tank Farm Contractor (TFC). The configuration management plan is listed in the management process documents for TFC as depicted in Attachment 1, TFC Document Structure. The configuration management plan is an integrated approach for control of technical, schedule, cost, and administrative processes necessary to manage the mission of the TFC. Configuration management encompasses the five functional elements of: (1) configuration management administration, (2) configuration identification, (3) configuration status accounting, (4) change control, and (5 ) configuration management assessments.

  13. Supply chain practices, performance and organizational configuration in the Mexican avocado industry

    OpenAIRE

    Arana Coronado, J.J.

    2010-01-01

    Recent changes in agrifood supply chains, such as the need for quality improvement and control, enhanced information exchange, and increased customer responsiveness, have made the introduction of Supply Chain Practices (SCPs) essential. Adopting practices such as product standardization, supplier partnerships and IT driven information exchange have resulted in higher supply chain efficiency and economic performance. Producers, traders and processors are able to obtain better control over prod...

  14. Methodology for Supply Chain Integration: A Case Study in the Artisan Industry of Footwear

    OpenAIRE

    Pérez-Gallardo, Jorge Raúl; Hernández-Vera, Beatriz; Moras Sánchez, Constantino Gerardo; Aguilar Lasserre, Alberto Alfonso; Posada-Gómez, Rubén; Juárez-Martínez, Ulises; Alor-Hernández, Giner

    2014-01-01

    The supply chain is a major issue in a global market. The efficient relationship between supplier-producer-retailer conforms the perfect combination to achieve a high level of competitiveness according to the needs of increasingly demanding and changing markets. The difficulty of synchronizing the members within the SC is related to the inherent uncertain factors. This paper proposes a methodology for integrating the supply chain that can be applied in any type of business. To demonstrate its...

  15. Optimal and Modular Configuration of Wind Integrated Hybrid Power Plants for Off-Grid Systems

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Petersen, Lennart; Iov, Florin; Tarnowski, German Claudio

    2018-01-01

    This paper focusses on the system configuration of offgrid hybrid power plants including wind power generation. First, a modular and scalable system topology is proposed. Secondly, an optimal sizing algorithm is developed in order to determine the installed capacities of wind turbines, PV system......, battery energy storage system and generator sets. The novelty of this work lies in a robust sizing algorithm with respect to the required resolution of resource data in order to account for intra-hour power variations. Moreover, the involvement of the electrical infrastructure enables a precise estimation...... of power losses within the hybrid power plant as well as the consideration of both active and reactive power load demand for optimally sizing the plant components. The main outcome of this study is a methodology to determine feasible system configurations of modular and scalable wind integrated hybrid...

  16. Continuum limit of the integrable sl(2/1)3-3-bar superspin chain

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Essler, Fabian H.L.; Frahm, Holger; Saleur, Hubert

    2005-01-01

    By a combination of analytical and numerical techniques, we analyze the continuum limit of the integrable 3 x 3-bar x 3 x 3-bar ...sl(2/1) superspin chain. We discover profoundly new features, including a continuous spectrum of conformal weights, whose numerical evidence is infinite degeneracies of the scaled gaps in the thermodynamic limit. This indicates that the corresponding conformal field theory has a non compact target space (even though our lattice model involves only finite-dimensional representations). We argue that our results are compatible with this theory being the level k=1, 'SU(2/1) WZW model' (whose precise definition requires some care). In doing so, we establish several new results for this model. With regard to potential applications to the spin quantum Hall effect, we conclude that the continuum limit of the 3 x 3-bar x 3 x 3-bar ...sl(2/1) integrable superspin chain is not the same as (and is in fact very different from) the continuum limit of the corresponding chain with two-superspin interactions only, which is known to be a model for the spin quantum Hall effect. The study of possible RG flows between the two theories is left for further study

  17. On integral and differential representations of Jordan chains and the confluent supersymmetry algorithm

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Contreras-Astorga, Alonso; Schulze-Halberg, Axel

    2015-01-01

    We construct a relationship between integral and differential representation of second-order Jordan chains. Conditions to obtain regular potentials through the confluent supersymmetry algorithm when working with the differential representation are obtained using this relationship. Furthermore, it is used to find normalization constants of wave functions of quantum systems that feature energy-dependent potentials. Additionally, this relationship is used to express certain integrals involving functions that are solution of Schrödinger equations through derivatives. (paper)

  18. BiodieselFAO: An Integrated Decision Support System for Investment Analysis in the Biodiesel Production Chain

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Aziz Galvão da Silva Júnior

    2015-06-01

    Full Text Available In the short and medium terms, biofuels are the most viable alternative to reduce the environmental impact of fossil fuels. The recent controversy over the competition between biofuels and food production increases the complexity of investment decisions in the biodiesel production chain. In this context, decision support tools are highly relevant. The purpose of this article is to describe the BiodieselFAO using the Unified Modeling Language (UML. An integrated analysis considering both agricultural and industrial sectors was identified as a key requirement to the system. Therefore, farmers and industry are the main actors in the use case diagram. As the raw material represents around 70% of the industrial cost of biodiesel production, the price negotiation of raw material (oilseeds is the central use case. Configuration, agriculture, industry, results and scenarios are the modules, which encompass the functionalities derived from the UML diagrams. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO has made the BiodieselFAO available, free of charge, to around 180 professionals from 17 Latin American countries. Additionally, the developing team has supported the usage of the BiodieselFAO in several biodiesel investment analyses throughout Latin America. The system was also useful in the design and analysis of policy related to biodiesel industry in Brazil.

  19. Geometric allocation approaches in Markov chain Monte Carlo

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Todo, S; Suwa, H

    2013-01-01

    The Markov chain Monte Carlo method is a versatile tool in statistical physics to evaluate multi-dimensional integrals numerically. For the method to work effectively, we must consider the following key issues: the choice of ensemble, the selection of candidate states, the optimization of transition kernel, algorithm for choosing a configuration according to the transition probabilities. We show that the unconventional approaches based on the geometric allocation of probabilities or weights can improve the dynamics and scaling of the Monte Carlo simulation in several aspects. Particularly, the approach using the irreversible kernel can reduce or sometimes completely eliminate the rejection of trial move in the Markov chain. We also discuss how the space-time interchange technique together with Walker's method of aliases can reduce the computational time especially for the case where the number of candidates is large, such as models with long-range interactions

  20. HYDRA: A Middleware-Oriented Integrated Architecture for e-Procurement in Supply Chains

    Science.gov (United States)

    Alor-Hernandez, Giner; Aguilar-Lasserre, Alberto; Juarez-Martinez, Ulises; Posada-Gomez, Ruben; Cortes-Robles, Guillermo; Garcia-Martinez, Mario Alberto; Gomez-Berbis, Juan Miguel; Rodriguez-Gonzalez, Alejandro

    The Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA) development paradigm has emerged to improve the critical issues of creating, modifying and extending solutions for business processes integration, incorporating process automation and automated exchange of information between organizations. Web services technology follows the SOA's principles for developing and deploying applications. Besides, Web services are considered as the platform for SOA, for both intra- and inter-enterprise communication. However, an SOA does not incorporate information about occurring events into business processes, which are the main features of supply chain management. These events and information delivery are addressed in an Event-Driven Architecture (EDA). Taking this into account, we propose a middleware-oriented integrated architecture that offers a brokering service for the procurement of products in a Supply Chain Management (SCM) scenario. As salient contributions, our system provides a hybrid architecture combining features of both SOA and EDA and a set of mechanisms for business processes pattern management, monitoring based on UML sequence diagrams, Web services-based management, event publish/subscription and reliable messaging service.

  1. Field configurations for small deviations of the integral filling factors in IQHE

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Cabo, A.; Castineiras, J.; Gonzalez, R.; Penaranda, S.

    1990-07-01

    A numerical solution of the effective Maxwell equations of the IQHE is presented. It corresponds to inhomogeneous electromagnetic field distributions appearing after a small constant magnetic field is added to a 2D-electron gas sheet when the density exactly fills an integral number of Landau levels. It follows that the Chern-Simons terms of the Maxwell equation transform the applied magnetic field into an equivalent homogeneous charge density. The numerical value of this density is exactly the one which is needed to furnish complete filling at the new value of the total magnetic field. The system then reacts tending to screen the effective charge density by removing charge from the sample edges. It is interesting that for the selected parameter values here, reflecting the current experimental situations, the system response is able to approximately establish an integral filling factor in the central portion of the sheet. Then, at least a small plateau is predicted to occur in pure samples at zero temperature. It also follows that the current distribution is unsymmetric under the inversion, as opposed to the configuration associated to a flow of a net Hall current at integral filling factors. (author). 8 refs, 4 figs

  2. Configuration Management

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Morcos, A.; Taylor, H. S.

    1989-01-01

    This paper will briefly discuss the reason for and content of configuration management both for new plants and, when adapted, for older plants. It will then address three types of activities a utility may undertake as part of a nuclear CAM program and with which Sargent and Leyden has been actively involved. The first activity is a methodology for preparing design-basis documentation. The second is the identification of essential data required to be kept by the utility in support of the operation of a nuclear plant. The third activity is a computerized classification system of plant components, allowing ready identification of plant functional and physical characteristics. Plant configuration documentation describes plant components, the ways they arranged to interact, and the ways they are enabled to interact. Configuration management, on the other hand, is more than the control of such documentation. It is a dynamic process for ensuring that a plant configuration meets all relevant requirements for safety and economy, even while the configuration changes and even while the requirements change. Configuration management for a nuclear plant is so complex that it must be implemented in phases and modules. It takes advantage of and integrates existing programs. Managing complexity and streamlining the change process become important additional objectives of configuration management. The example activities fulfill essential goals of an overall CAM program: definition of design baseline, definition of essential plant data, and classification of plant components

  3. An Integrated Process and Digitalization Perspective on the Shipping Supply Chain – a Literature Review

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Feibert, Diana Cordes; Hansen, Mette Sanne; Jacobsen, Peter

    The maritime transport industry operates in an environment characterized by fluctuating fuel prices and low freight rates in a dynamic competitive market. Shipping companies must therefore adopt responsive supply chains whilst containing costs. This study investigates what extant literature can...... offer from an integrated digitalization and business process management perspective to enhance supply chain performance for shipping companies. The main themes identified in literature have been categorized according to their contributions to achieving responsive and efficient supply chains. Furthermore......, the drivers of enhanced supply chain performance have been identified and an agenda for future research is proposed. This study therefore contributes to the research field of maritime transport by enfolding extant literature and guiding decision makers in their efforts to achieve responsive and adaptive...

  4. Sink or Swim: Learning by Doing in a Supply Chain Integration Activity*

    Science.gov (United States)

    Harnowo, Akhadian S.; Calhoun, Mikelle A.; Monteiro, Heather

    2016-01-01

    Studies show that supply chain integration (SCI) is important to organizations. This article describes an activity that places students in the middle of an SCI scenario. The highly interactive hands-on simulation requires only 50 to 60 minutes of classroom time, may be used with 18 to about 36 students, and involves minimal instructor preparation.…

  5. The Research on Integrated Strategy of Supply Chain Information Systems in the Automobile Industry Based on Order-To-Delivery Mode

    Science.gov (United States)

    Li, Ming; Gan, Lianzhen; He, Xuefeng

    The automotive industry there are different degrees of impairment of many companies supply chain IT strategy. In this paper, in which the automotive industry supply chain management business cooperation between enterprises loose, poor exchange of information leading to the presence or delays in product customization, supply of raw materials, material control, production planning and control, sales and service and a fast response propose a series of typical problems of scientific and rational supply chain information integration strategy. The strategy through the development system integration platform, improve internal ERP system, implementation of supply chain management and other methods. Put some protection principles in the information process, to ensure the correct implementation of supply chain IT strategy, and ultimately achieve collaborative business development concept and enhance the automotive industry as a whole level of information.

  6. Sustainable Supply Chain Design

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Bals, Lydia; Tate, Wendy

    A significant conceptual and practical challenge is how to integrate triple bottom line (TBL; including economic, social and environmental) sustainability into global supply chains. Although this integration is necessary to slow down global resource depletion, understanding is limited of how...... to implement TBL goals across the supply chain. In supply chain design, the classic economic perspective still dominates, although the idea of the TBL is more widely disseminated. The purpose of this research is to add to the sustainable supply chain management literature (SSCM) research agenda...... by incorporating the physical chain, and the (information and financial) support chains into supply chain design. This manuscript tackles issues of what the chains are designed for and how they are designed structurally. Four sustainable businesses are used as illustrative case examples of innovative supply chain...

  7. Configurations of NPD : production interfaces and interface integration mechanisms

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Smulders, F.E.H.M.; Boer, H.; Hansen, P.H.K.; Gubi, E.; Dorst, C.H.

    2002-01-01

    This paper describes and illustrates different configurations of the interface between new product development and production processes, including both intra–firm and inter–firm interfaces. These configurations are partly based on a process view of product innovation and partly on a structural view

  8. Failures in combined knowledge and material supply chains

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Koch, Christian

    2005-01-01

    by configuration by project. In such a setting creating value for the customers and the enterprises becomes dependent of the ability to organise and coordinate in the supply chains. That the configuration is not always successful can be demonstrated by studying the emergence of failures occurring in the supply......-month observation period. These were compiled and analysed. The economic consequences are calculated to be 8% of the production costs. The analysis of relations in the supply chain both shows relations to materials and knowledge chains and their interaction. Most of the failures were generated in the knowledge...... stream and then occasionally transfer into the material stream. The paper proposes initiatives to strengthen partnerships in supply chains and especially at engineer to order production. The contradiction between the permanent enterprise organisation potentially capable of handling purchasing...

  9. Proposition of a modeling and an analysis methodology of integrated reverse logistics chain in the direct chain

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Mimouni, F.; Abouabdellah, A.

    2016-07-01

    Propose a modeling and analysis methodology based on the combination of Bayesian networks and Petri networks of the reverse logistics integrated the direct supply chain. Network modeling by combining Petri and Bayesian network. Modeling with Bayesian network complimented with Petri network to break the cycle problem in the Bayesian network. Demands are independent from returns. Model can only be used on nonperishable products. Legislation aspects: Recycling laws; Protection of environment; Client satisfaction via after sale service. Bayesian network with a cycle combined with the Petri Network. (Author)

  10. Control Towers in Supply Chain Management - Past and Future

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Anna Trzuskawska-Grzesińska

    2017-02-01

    Full Text Available The global economy requires global supply chain management which relies on visibility and responsiveness. Determinants such as: information technology tools, process knowledge, sales and operations planning experiences, etc., enable the formation of theory and practice for the supply chain control tower concept. The goal of the research paper is to identify business examples of different approaches to the supply chain control tower in the past and initiate a discussion on their future. This paper synthesizes past control tower practices and identifies possible future trends. The author performed: literature analysis, three selected companies' case studies and comparative analyses. As the control towers evolve, while supply chains are transforming continuous, update from the market is needed. The research findings showed the selected companies, in the future, perceived control tower's activities as a potential source of revenue not just solely a source of cost and time optimization as well as a source of value added to customer. The researched control towers were built and still they are developed. The business frequently changes and requires control towers to be adjusted, reengineered and adaptive. The researched control towers are needed to keep control over supply chain while it is transforming. There is a differentiation between the supply chain control towers, logistic services control towers and reverse supply chain control towers. An integration mechanism between the control towers would be necessary to assure entire supply chain visibility and orchestration. The research also shows the knowledge gap regarding the control towers in supply chain, specially their possible configurations and future.

  11. Analysis and integration of multilevel inverter configuration with boost converters in a photovoltaic system

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Prabaharan, N.; Palanisamy, K.

    2016-01-01

    Highlights: • Integration of MLI with boost converters in photovoltaic system including MPPT. • Results are taken for different irradiations and different temperature condition. • Proposed system is tested with sudden step changes from standard test condition. • Analysis of switching losses and conduction loss is discussed. • Theoretical calculation of % THD using asymptotic formula is discussed. - Abstract: This paper proposes a single phase multilevel inverter configuration that conjoins three series connected full bridge inverter and a single half bridge inverter for renewable energy application especially photo-voltaic system. This configuration of multilevel inverter reduces the value of total harmonic distortion. The half bridge inverter utilized in the proposed configuration increases the output voltage level to nearly twice the output voltage level of a conventional cascaded H-bridge multilevel inverter. This higher output voltage level is generated with lesser number of power semiconductor switches compared to conventional configuration, thus reducing the total harmonic distortion and switching losses. The effectiveness of the proposed configuration is illustrated by replacing the isolated DC sources in multilevel inverter with individual photo-voltaic panels using separate perturb and observer based maximum power point tracking and boost converters. The verification of the proposed system is demonstrated successfully using MATLAB/Simulink based simulation with different irradiation and temperature conditions. Also, the transient operation of the system is verified with results depicted using step change in standard test condition. In the proposed system, total harmonic distortion of the output voltage is 9.85% without using passive filters and 3.91% with filter inductance. Theoretical calculation of the power losses and total harmonic distortion with mathematical equations are discussed. Selective experimental results are presented to prove the

  12. The Effect of IT Integration on Supply Chain Agility Towards Market Performance (A Proposed Study

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Shaghayegh Maleki Far

    2017-06-01

    Full Text Available Aim/Purpose\t: An important objective of any firm is escalation of its performance and the achievement of competitive advantages. Supply chain agility plays a prominent role to enhance the level of firm’s performance. Moreover, information technology (IT plays a foundational role in supply chain management practices. Hence, this study proposes the relationship between IT integration as the competency of IT and firm’s market performance both directly and through mediating role of supply chain agility. Background:\tMany studies have been done to date on the impact of supply chain agility on overall firm’s performance. However, the effect of an agile supply chain on firm’s market performance per se needs to be studied. Furthermore, there is a gap in the literature about the effect of IT competency such as IT integration on firm’s market performance both directly and through mediating role of supply chain agility. Recommendation for Researchers: The first direction this study gives to researchers is to consider the different factors which have significant effect on the agility of supply chain, particularly the IT related ones. The second direction is about the study on the effect of IT competencies and supply chain agility on each category of firm’s performance separately instead of considering it as a one construct. Impact on Society\t: Although this is a conceptual study, it can highlight the importance of IT competency not only in our daily life, but also in our businesses and industries. Future Research:\tThis study only proposes some relationships based on theory and literature. Future researchers can test these proposed relationships in different contexts and compare the results. Furthermore, this study proposes the relationships for large manufacturing sector in developing countries. The model could be tested for SMEs as well. In addition, the proposed theoretical model in this study might be tested in both developing as well as

  13. SCRL-Model for Human Space Flight Operations Enterprise Supply Chain

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tucker, Brian

    2010-01-01

    Standard approach to evaluate and configure adaptable and sustainable program and mission supply chains at an enterprise level. End-to-end view. Total Lifecycle. Evaluate the readiness of the supply chain during the supply chain development phase.

  14. Supply chain practices, performance and organizational configuration in the Mexican avocado industry

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Arana Coronado, J.J.

    2010-01-01

    Recent changes in agrifood supply chains, such as the need for quality improvement and control, enhanced information exchange, and increased customer responsiveness, have made the introduction of Supply Chain Practices (SCPs) essential. Adopting practices such as product standardization, supplier

  15. 40 CFR 205.157-3 - Configuration identification.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-07-01

    ...-3 Section 205.157-3 Protection of Environment ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY (CONTINUED) NOISE ABATEMENT PROGRAMS TRANSPORTATION EQUIPMENT NOISE EMISSION CONTROLS Motorcycles § 205.157-3 Configuration...) intake ducting; and (iii) air cleaner element. (3) Vehicle drive train: (i) Chain; and (ii) shaft. (4...

  16. Intelligent Supply Chain Integration and Management Based on Cloud of Things

    OpenAIRE

    Yan, Junwei; Xin, Sijin; Liu, Quan; Xu, Wenjun; Yang, Liwen; Fan, Li; Chen, Bo; Wang, Qiang

    2014-01-01

    The fierce global competition and market turbulence has been forcing the enterprises towards to the integration and intelligence for supply chain management, and the seamless information sharing and collaboration as well as operation agility are the challenges which need to be conquered, in terms of the highly distributed and heterogeneous resources located in separated warehouses. Although a number of works have been done to achieve the aforementioned targets, few of them are able to provide...

  17. Integration of Forestry Industrial Chain in China

    OpenAIRE

    Lan, Zhanzhan; Wang, Liqun

    2013-01-01

    Based on the Smile Curve and Michael E. Porter’ value chain model, this paper points out that China’s forestry industry stays at the low end of the value chain for a long time. Raw materials are imported from foreign countries and also sold in foreign countries. Then, the authors analyze characteristics and existing problems of China’s forestry industrial chain. They put forward the development direction of China’s forestry industrial chain with reference to International Paper Compan...

  18. Evolutionary algorithms approach for integrated bioenergy supply chains optimization

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ayoub, Nasser; Elmoshi, Elsayed; Seki, Hiroya; Naka, Yuji

    2009-01-01

    In this paper, we propose an optimization model and solution approach for designing and evaluating integrated system of bioenergy production supply chains, SC, at the local level. Designing SC that simultaneously utilize a set of bio-resources together is a complicated task, considered here. The complication arises from the different nature and sources of bio-resources used in bioenergy production i.e., wet, dry or agriculture, industrial etc. Moreover, the different concerns that decision makers should take into account, to overcome the tradeoff anxieties of the socialists and investors, i.e., social, environmental and economical factors, was considered through the options of multi-criteria optimization. A first part of this research was introduced in earlier research work explaining the general Bioenergy Decision System gBEDS [Ayoub N, Martins R, Wang K, Seki H, Naka Y. Two levels decision system for efficient planning and implementation of bioenergy production. Energy Convers Manage 2007;48:709-23]. In this paper, brief introduction and emphasize on gBEDS are given; the optimization model is presented and followed by a case study on designing a supply chain of nine bio-resources at Iida city in the middle part of Japan.

  19. Quality in Supply in Project Configured Networks

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Koch, Christian; Larsen, Casper Schultz

    2006-01-01

    The paper argues that in the AEC-industry the material and knowledge supply chains are increasingly intertwined and moreover characterised by configuration by project. In such a setting creating value for the customers and the enterprises becomes dependent of the ability to organise and coordinate...

  20. Configuration Management Automation (CMA) -

    Data.gov (United States)

    Department of Transportation — Configuration Management Automation (CMA) will provide an automated, integrated enterprise solution to support CM of FAA NAS and Non-NAS assets and investments. CMA...

  1. Quality in Construction- A Supply Chain Perspective

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Koch, Christian; Larsen, Casper Schultz

    2006-01-01

    be demonstrated by studying the emergence of failures occurring in the supply chain. The paper conceptualises the construction supply as a delivery network being partially stable, partially project specific and configured. It moreover develops a frame of understanding of the handling of quality issues...... in the delivery network, using operation management approaches. The paper presents case study work done in Danish construction. The method was observation of work at the construction site followed by interviews with actors backwards upstream the supply chain to the origin of the failure. The building project...... into the material stream. The paper proposes initiatives to strengthen partnerships in supply chains, especially at mixed stable and project configured types. The contradiction between permanent enterprise organisations potentially capable of handling purchasing and the role of the project manager is discussed...

  2. Models for the Configuration and Integrity of Partially Oxidized Fuel Rod Cladding at High Temperatures

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Siefken, L.J.

    1999-01-01

    Models were designed to resolve deficiencies in the SCDAP/RELAP5/MOD3.2 calculations of the configuration and integrity of hot, partially oxidized cladding. These models are expected to improve the calculations of several important aspects of fuel rod behavior. First, an improved mapping was established from a compilation of PIE results from severe fuel damage tests of the configuration of melted metallic cladding that is retained by an oxide layer. The improved mapping accounts for the relocation of melted cladding in the circumferential direction. Then, rules based on PIE results were established for calculating the effect of cladding that has relocated from above on the oxidation and integrity of the lower intact cladding upon which it solidifies. Next, three different methods were identified for calculating the extent of dissolution of the oxidic part of the cladding due to its contact with the metallic part. The extent of dissolution effects the stress and thus the integrity of the oxidic part of the cladding. Then, an empirical equation was presented for calculating the stress in the oxidic part of the cladding and evaluating its integrity based on this calculated stress. This empirical equation replaces the current criterion for loss of integrity which is based on temperature and extent of oxidation. Finally, a new rule based on theoretical and experimental results was established for identifying the regions of a fuel rod with oxidation of both the inside and outside surfaces of the cladding. The implementation of these models is expected to eliminate the tendency of the SCDAP/RELAP5 code to overpredict the extent of oxidation of the upper part of fuel rods and to underpredict the extent of oxidation of the lower part of fuel rods and the part with a high concentration of relocated material. This report is a revision and reissue of the report entitled, Improvements in Modeling of Cladding Oxidation and Meltdown

  3. Force-chain evolution in a two-dimensional granular packing compacted by vertical tappings

    Science.gov (United States)

    Iikawa, Naoki; Bandi, M. M.; Katsuragi, Hiroaki

    2018-03-01

    We experimentally study the statistics of force-chain evolution in a vertically-tapped two-dimensional granular packing by using photoelastic disks. In this experiment, the tapped granular packing is gradually compacted. During the compaction, the isotropy of grain configurations is quantified by measuring the deviator anisotropy derived from fabric tensor, and then the evolution of force-chain structure is quantified by measuring the interparticle forces and force-chain orientational order parameter. As packing fraction increases, the interparticle force increases and finally saturates to an asymptotic value. Moreover, the grain configurations and force-chain structures become isotropically random as the tapping-induced compaction proceeds. In contrast, the total length of force chains remains unchanged. From the correlations of those parameters, we find two relations: (i) a positive correlation between the isotropy of grain configurations and the disordering of force-chain orientations, and (ii) a negative correlation between the increasing of interparticle forces and the disordering of force-chain orientations. These relations are universally held regardless of the mode of particle motions with or without convection.

  4. The effect of a soap film on a catenary: measurement of surface tension from the triangular configuration

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Behroozi, F; Behroozi, P S

    2011-01-01

    A chain assumes the well-known shape known as a catenary when it hangs loosely from two points in a gravitational field. The correct solution of the catenary was one of the early triumphs of the newly invented calculus of variations at the end of the 17th century. Here we revisit the catenary and show that, for a chain hanging from a horizontal rod, three new and distinct configurations are possible if a soap film covers the area bounded by the chain and the rod. We first review the general problem and discuss the conditions under which the chain assumes a concave, triangular or convex configuration. The deciding factor is the strength of surface tension relative to the gravitational force per unit length of the chain. The conditions under which the chain assumes the shape of a perfect triangle are discussed in greater detail and analysed to obtain the tension along the chain. The triangular configuration is especially intriguing to undergraduates and may be used as a simple experiment to obtain the surface tension of the soap solution by measuring just one angle of the triangle.

  5. The effect of a soap film on a catenary: measurement of surface tension from the triangular configuration

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Behroozi, F [Department of Physics, University of Northern Iowa, Cedar Falls, IA 50614 (United States); Behroozi, P S, E-mail: behroozi@uni.edu [Department of Physics, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305 (United States)

    2011-09-15

    A chain assumes the well-known shape known as a catenary when it hangs loosely from two points in a gravitational field. The correct solution of the catenary was one of the early triumphs of the newly invented calculus of variations at the end of the 17th century. Here we revisit the catenary and show that, for a chain hanging from a horizontal rod, three new and distinct configurations are possible if a soap film covers the area bounded by the chain and the rod. We first review the general problem and discuss the conditions under which the chain assumes a concave, triangular or convex configuration. The deciding factor is the strength of surface tension relative to the gravitational force per unit length of the chain. The conditions under which the chain assumes the shape of a perfect triangle are discussed in greater detail and analysed to obtain the tension along the chain. The triangular configuration is especially intriguing to undergraduates and may be used as a simple experiment to obtain the surface tension of the soap solution by measuring just one angle of the triangle.

  6. Proposition of a modeling and an analysis methodology of integrated reverse logistics chain in the direct chain

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Faycal Mimouni

    2016-04-01

    Full Text Available Purpose: Propose a modeling and analysis methodology based on the combination of Bayesian networks and Petri networks of the reverse logistics integrated the direct supply chain. Design/methodology/approach: Network modeling by combining Petri and Bayesian network. Findings: Modeling with Bayesian network complimented with Petri network to break the cycle problem in the Bayesian network. Research limitations/implications: Demands are independent from returns. Practical implications: Model can only be used on nonperishable products. Social implications: Legislation aspects: Recycling laws; Protection of environment; Client satisfaction via after sale service. Originality/value: Bayesian network with a cycle combined with the Petri Network.

  7. Integration of three echelon supply chain (supplier-manufacturer-distributor-drop shipper) with permissible delay in payment and penalty contract

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ibrahim, M. F.; Suparno

    2018-04-01

    Supply Chain Management (SCM) has to be considered in the company in order to improve the sustainability and competitiveness. SCM executed to integrating any companies on the supply chain in a way of coordinating the flow of goods, information, and financial. Permissible delay in payment is one of the coordination ways with allowing the costumers delay the payments to a vendor in some certain periods without any interest charges. In the supply chain system, drop-shipping player already familiar in this era. In drop-shipping internet retailing, the supplier will hold supplies and also carry out physical distribution service on behalf of drop-shipper. Drop-shipper will just focus on selling, on the other hand, their supplier will be responsible for the physical process. Generally, drop-shipper have information of the customer demands better than the distributor. But, it is also unrare when the drop-shipper send the estimation of demands which bigger than their own estimation in order to maximize their own interest, so they hope supplies of the distributor will always enough to accommodate their demands. Contributions in this research will be focused on integration of three echelons supply chain, which are the supplier, manufacturer, distributor, and drop-shipper. With considering delay in payment on first and second echelons, and also the contract penalty on third echelon. The problem on this research will be modeled in some kind of cases which can represent the problem of real supply chain system. Sensitivity analysis will be done on certain significant variables toward the changes of total supply chain cost. Coordination with delay in payment success to integrate supply chain. Contract penalty plan success to maintain the profit of distributor and drop-shipper.

  8. Twist-stretch profiles of DNA chains

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zoli, Marco

    2017-06-01

    Helical molecules change their twist number under the effect of a mechanical load. We study the twist-stretch relation for a set of short DNA molecules modeled by a mesoscopic Hamiltonian. Finite temperature path integral techniques are applied to generate a large ensemble of possible configurations for the base pairs of the sequence. The model also accounts for the bending and twisting fluctuations between adjacent base pairs along the molecules stack. Simulating a broad range of twisting conformation, we compute the helix structural parameters by averaging over the ensemble of base pairs configurations. The method selects, for any applied force, the average twist angle which minimizes the molecule’s free energy. It is found that the chains generally over-twist under an applied stretching and the over-twisting is physically associated to the contraction of the average helix diameter, i.e. to the damping of the base pair fluctuations. Instead, assuming that the maximum amplitude of the bending fluctuations may decrease against the external load, the DNA molecule first over-twists for weak applied forces and then untwists above a characteristic force value. Our results are discussed in relation to available experimental information albeit for kilo-base long molecules.

  9. An unit cost adjusting heuristic algorithm for the integrated planning and scheduling of a two-stage supply chain

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jianhua Wang

    2014-10-01

    Full Text Available Purpose: The stable relationship of one-supplier-one-customer is replaced by a dynamic relationship of multi-supplier-multi-customer in current market gradually, and efficient scheduling techniques are important tools of the dynamic supply chain relationship establishing process. This paper studies the optimization of the integrated planning and scheduling problem of a two-stage supply chain with multiple manufacturers and multiple retailers to obtain a minimum supply chain operating cost, whose manufacturers have different production capacities, holding and producing cost rates, transportation costs to retailers.Design/methodology/approach: As a complex task allocation and scheduling problem, this paper sets up an INLP model for it and designs a Unit Cost Adjusting (UCA heuristic algorithm that adjust the suppliers’ supplying quantity according to their unit costs step by step to solve the model.Findings: Relying on the contrasting analysis between the UCA and the Lingo solvers for optimizing many numerical experiments, results show that the INLP model and the UCA algorithm can obtain its near optimal solution of the two-stage supply chain’s planning and scheduling problem within very short CPU time.Research limitations/implications: The proposed UCA heuristic can easily help managers to optimizing the two-stage supply chain scheduling problems which doesn’t include the delivery time and batch of orders. For two-stage supply chains are the most common form of actual commercial relationships, so to make some modification and study on the UCA heuristic should be able to optimize the integrated planning and scheduling problems of a supply chain with more reality constraints.Originality/value: This research proposes an innovative UCA heuristic for optimizing the integrated planning and scheduling problem of two-stage supply chains with the constraints of suppliers’ production capacity and the orders’ delivering time, and has a great

  10. Microcontroller-based binary integrator for millimeter-wave radar experiments.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Eskelinen, Pekka; Ruoskanen, Jukka; Peltonen, Jouni

    2010-05-01

    An easily on-site reconfigurable multiple binary integrator for millimeter radar experiments has been constructed of static random access memories, an eight bit microcontroller, and high speed video operational amplifiers. The design uses a raw comparator path and two adjustable m-out-of-n chains in a wired-OR configuration. Standard high speed memories allow the use of pulse widths below 100 ns. For eight pulse repetition intervals it gives a maximum improvement of 6.6 dB for stationary low-level target echoes. The doubled configuration enhances the capability against fluctuating targets. Because of the raw comparator path, also single return pulses of relatively high amplitude are processed.

  11. On the Ways to Realize Cultural Industry Chain Integration Effect%实现文化产业链整合效用的途径探讨

    Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

    王富兰

    2014-01-01

    文化产业链则整合可以给产业链中的企业带来协同效应,从而创造更大的经济利益。而实现产业链整合的效应可以采用以下方法:产业链上的企业间建立战略合作关系;产业链上的整合能实现规模经济;产业链上的企业不断创新;产业链上的企业品牌共享;进行知识整合。%Culture industry chain integration can bring synergies to the enterprise in the industry chain, so as to create greater economic benefits. The following methods can be used to achieve the effect of the industrial chain integration: strategic partnership between enterprises in the industrial chain; economies of scale by integration of industrial chain; constant innovation of the enterprise in the industrial chain;enterprise brand share in the industry chain;knowledge integration.

  12. New Topological Configurations in the Continuous Heisenberg Spin Chain: Lower Bound for the Energy

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Rossen Dandoloff

    2015-01-01

    Full Text Available In order to study the spin configurations of the classical one-dimensional Heisenberg model, we map the normalized unit vector, representing the spin, on a space curve. We show that the total chirality of the configuration is a conserved quantity. If, for example, one end of the space curve is rotated by an angle of 2π relative to the other, the Frenet frame traces out a noncontractible loop in SO(3 and this defines a new class of topological spin configurations for the Heisenberg model.

  13. Spectral distributions of mixed configurations of identical nucleons in the seniority scheme II. Configuration-seniority scheme

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Quesne, C.; Spitz, S.

    1978-01-01

    Configuration-seniority spectral distributions as well as fixed seniority and fixed total seniority and parity distributions are studied in detail for mixed configurations of identitical nucleons. The decomposition of any (1+2) -body Hamiltonian into irreducible tensors with respect to the unitary and symplectic groups in each subshell is obtained. Group theoretical methods based on the Wigner-Eckart theorem for the higher unitary groups are used to get analytical expressions for the partial widths of configuration-seniority distributions. During this derivation, various isoscalar factors for the chain SU (2Ω) is contained inSp (2Ω) are determined. Numerical calculations of centroid energies, partial widths, and mixing parameters are performed in the Sn and Pb nuclei with a surface delta and a gaussian interactions. Average ordinary and total seniority breaking is studied. Total seniority space truncations in the ground state region are discussed in the Pb nuclei in connections with various approximation schemes

  14. Mobile Payment Technology and Competitiveness In the Credit Card Chain

    OpenAIRE

    Martins, Guilherme Silveira; FGV-EAESP; Martins, Michele Esteves; FGV-EAESP; Di Serio, Luiz Carlos; FGV-EAESP; Csillag, João Mário; FGV-EAESP; Santos, Camila Aparecida; Freeddom Tecnologia e Serviços S.A.

    2013-01-01

    This paper discusses the value creation sources of Mobile Payment concept into the Credit Card Chain. A case-study was developed based on the Transaction Cost Theory, Value Chain Analysis, RB V, Schumpeterian Innovation, and Strategic Network Theory. The results illustrate the technology potential to modify the configuration of Credit Card chain.

  15. A capacity expansion planning model for integrated water desalination and power supply chain problem

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Saif, Y.; Almansoori, A.

    2016-01-01

    Highlights: • Water and power supply chain is considered by a discrete optimization model. • The model examines the capacity expansion and operation of the supply chain problem. • Renewable/alternative power technologies and carbon mitigation are considered. • A case study of Abu Dhabi in UAE is examined as an application of the model. - Abstract: Cogeneration of water and power in integrated cogeneration production plants is a common practice in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) countries. There are several combinations of water desalination and power technologies which give significant adverse environmental impact. Renewable and alternative energy technologies have been recently proposed as alternative power production paths in the water and power sector. In this study, we examine the optimal capacity expansion of water and power infrastructure over an extended planning horizon. A generic mixed integer linear programming model is developed to assist in the decision making process on: (1) optimal installation of cogeneration expansion capacities; (2) optimal installation of renewable and alternative power plants; (3) optimal operation of the integrated water and power supply chain over large geographical areas. Furthermore, the model considers the installation of carbon capture methods in fossil-based power plants. A case study will be presented to illustrate the mathematical programming application for the Emirate of Abu Dhabi (AD) in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The case study is solved reflecting different scenarios: base case scenario, integration of renewable and alternative technologies scenario, and CO_2 reduction targets scenario. The results show that increased carbon tax values up to 150 $/ton-CO_2 gives a maximum 3% cost increase for the supply chain net present value. The installation of carbon capture methods is not an economical solution due to its high operation energy requirements in the order of 370 kW h per ton of captured CO_2

  16. The Impact of Information System-Enabled Supply Chain Process Integration on Business Performance: A Resource-Based Analysis

    OpenAIRE

    Morteza Ghobakhloo; Sai Hong Tang; Mohammad Sadegh Sabouri; Norzima Zulkifli

    2014-01-01

    This paper seeks to develop and test a model to examine the relationships between, technical aspects of IS resources (IS alignment, IS resources technical quality, IS advancement), supply chain process integration, and firm performance. A questionnaire-based survey was conducted to collect data from 227 supply chain, logistics, or procurement/purchasing managers of leading manufacturing and retail organizations. Drawing on resources-based view of the firm, and through extending the concept of...

  17. Excitatory Neuronal Hubs Configure Multisensory Integration of Slow Waves in Association Cortex

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Satoshi Kuroki

    2018-03-01

    Full Text Available Summary: Multisensory integration (MSI is a fundamental emergent property of the mammalian brain. During MSI, perceptual information encoded in patterned activity is processed in multimodal association cortex. The systems-level neuronal dynamics that coordinate MSI, however, are unknown. Here, we demonstrate intrinsic hub-like network activity in the association cortex that regulates MSI. We engineered calcium reporter mouse lines based on the fluorescence resonance energy transfer sensor yellow cameleon (YC2.60 expressed in excitatory or inhibitory neurons. In medial and parietal association cortex, we observed spontaneous slow waves that self-organized into hubs defined by long-range excitatory and local inhibitory circuits. Unlike directional source/sink-like flows in sensory areas, medial/parietal excitatory and inhibitory hubs had net-zero balanced inputs. Remarkably, multisensory stimulation triggered rapid phase-locking mainly of excitatory hub activity persisting for seconds after the stimulus offset. Therefore, association cortex tends to form balanced excitatory networks that configure slow-wave phase-locking for MSI. Video Abstract: : Kuroki et al. performed cell-type-specific, wide-field FRET-based calcium imaging to visualize cortical network activity induced by multisensory inputs. They observed phase-locking of cortical slow waves in excitatory neuronal hubs in association cortical areas that may underlie multisensory integration. Keywords: wide-field calcium imaging, multisensory integration, cortical slow waves, association cortex, phase locking, fluorescence resonance energy transfer, spontaneous activity, excitatory neuron, inhibitory neuron, mouse

  18. An integrated information system to support supply chain management & performance in SMEs

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Dekeng; Budiarto, S.; Prabowo, M. Agung; Herawan, Tutut

    2017-01-01

    This study aims to examine the relation between the level of supply chain management (SCM) adoption and small & medium enterprises (SMEs) performance. SCM adoption level is expected to facilitate SMEs in improving their efficiency, thus they can obtain their competitive advantage. Design/methodology/approach: This study uses primary data in the form of questionnaires. This study only takes the SMEs engaged in commerce (retail) business in order to avoid bias in IT usage. The questionnaires are given to 88 SMEs owners whom responsible for the IT development in their companies. Findings: The result proves that SCM adoption significantly affects SMEs performance. The hypotheses testing is performed using one-way ANOVA, the result shows that there are significant differences between level initiation, diffusion, and integration with SMEs performance. Originality: This study explains the relation between supply chain management (SCM) adoption level and SMEs performance that has never been performed before.

  19. An integrated information system to support supply chain management & performance in SMEs

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Dekeng; Budiarto, S.; Prabowo, M. Agung; Herawan, Tutut

    2017-07-01

    This study aims to examine the relation between the level of supply chain management (SCM) adoption and small & medium enterprises (SMEs) performance. SCM adoption level is expected to facilitate SMEs in improving their efficiency, thus they can obtain their competitive advantage. Design/methodology/approach: This study uses primary data in the form of questionnaires. This study only takes the SMEs engaged in commerce (retail) business in order to avoid bias in IT usage. The questionnaires are given to 88 SMEs owners whom responsible for the IT development in their companies. Findings: The result proves that SCM adoption significantly affects SMEs performance. The hypotheses testing is performed using one-way ANOVA, the result shows that there are significant differences between level initiation, diffusion, and integration with SMEs performance. Originality: This study explains the relation between supply chain management (SCM) adoption level and SMEs performance that has never been performed before.

  20. Supply chain planning with sustainability considerations: an integrative framework

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Wang, Yang; Akkerman, Renzo; Birkved, Morten

    2011-01-01

    This paper proposes a modelling framework for combining supply chain planning and sustainability assessment, illustrating how sustainability assessments of logistic activities can be improved by supply chain planning input, and supply chain planning can in turn make use of the results from sustai...... produced on industrial scale, studying several important planning decisions like temperature treatments and choice of packaging materials.......This paper proposes a modelling framework for combining supply chain planning and sustainability assessment, illustrating how sustainability assessments of logistic activities can be improved by supply chain planning input, and supply chain planning can in turn make use of the results from...

  1. Requirements of supply chain management in differentiating European pork chains

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Trienekens, J.H.; Wognum, P.M.

    2013-01-01

    This paper summarizes results obtained by research into pork chain management in the EU Integrated Project Q-Porkchains. Changing demands for intrinsic and extrinsic quality attributes of pork products impact the way supply chain management should be organized from the farmer down to the consumer.

  2. ASPECTS REGARDING THE ROLE OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGIES IN THE ASSURANCE OF SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT PERFORMANCE

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ilies Radu Ovidiu

    2013-07-01

    Full Text Available This paper is intended to outline the importance of e-logistics programs, based on the new information technologies and successful e-business applications in the case of Romanian companies that activate in the production and services field, namely producers, suppliers or distributors. The redesigning of the logistic system and the reconfiguration of the supply chain management (SCM challenge the firms, especially the small ones, to explore new e-business applications, on the basis of feasibility studies before getting implemented. For a long time, firms considered that commercial changes are the last solution to resolve SCM problems, however many supply chains have been a failure. The explanation resides in the fact that a number of companies that had integrated their supply chains noticed that there was little or no response to the existing requests in this field. Although commercial changes represent an important part of Business to Business programs, actually very few managers understand the way to deal with them, which is integrating them in e-business programs. This paper outlines the companies’ need to develop e-business programs and the importance of these programs for the whole supply chain to obtain performances, taking into account that many firms that get integrated in the supply chain lack the technological capacity to implement electronic means for processing, transmitting and receiving data. One remedy might be their initiative to use Business to Business programs, with the purpose to offer easily configurable optimized networks and interactive solutions based on Web, at competitive prices. This system should have different assisting functions to help the partners of a supply chain, especially the small firms, to easily integrate up-to-date management and informational system refinement methods, in an efficient and effective way. As it has been pointed out in the paper, a major role for the enhancement of SCM performances is

  3. FORMING OF THE SUSTAINABLE SUPPLY CHAINS BASED ON INCREASING OF THEIR INTEGRATED ENERGY EFFICIENCY

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    SHVETS V. J.

    2016-03-01

    Full Text Available Purpose. Key challenges and barriers of mining machinery enterprises in the context of forming sustainable supply chains in the mining industry are specified. Methodology. The algorithm of forming the industrial relations, which are carried out by the enterprises of mining machinery in order to increase the sustainable development of a mining industry, is offered. Conclusions.. Modern supply chains are confronted with dynamic trends and developments that are hard to predict. In order to respond to these changes and remain competitive advantage, companies should be able to identify and understand new sustainability issues in their branches. It is established that in the conditions of globalization of the market and the general orientation of Ukraine’s economy to the European principles of development, for mining machinery enterprises a proof of the commitment and observance of requirements of energy efficiency, i.e. energy saving, energy safety and social energy responsibility are very important. Supply channels should increase not only energy efficiency, economic and production stability of the company, but also strengthen the stability of all participants in the production chain, as well as other stakeholders (business partners, customers, investors, local communities, etc.. Originality. The interrelation of an indicator of energy efficiency in forming sustainable supply chain in a mining industry is established. Practical value. Using the principles of sustainable development in the forming of value chains will improve energy efficiency of industry in general; provide a competitive advantage to entry into the global production chains in terms of European integration of Ukraine.

  4. Business integration unit (BIU adapter for industrial global value chain on the web

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Adel Ghannam

    2016-05-01

    Full Text Available Today's manufacturing enterprises rarely live in isolation. They need to be connected in order to create products from which a group of enterprises, called global-value-chain (GVC, can derive value. Service-oriented architecture (SOA and event-driven architecture (EDA are two different paradigms that address complex integration challenges. Enterprise service bus (ESB allows for the implementation of both the SOA and the EDA concepts. This paper addresses the development of an enterprise service bus (ESB to grant the operation of GVC. A proposed business-integrator-unit (BIU is designed to be plugged in each enterprise system. The BIU contains a “business collaboration map configurator” that allows real time allocation of roles to members’ enterprises.

  5. On spin chains and field theories

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Roiban, Radu

    2004-01-01

    We point out that the existence of global symmetries in a field theory is not an essential ingredient in its relation with an integrable model. We describe an obvious construction which, given an integrable spin chain, yields a field theory whose 1-loop scale transformations are generated by the spin chain hamiltonian. We also identify a necessary condition for a given field theory to be related to an integrable spin chain. As an example, we describe an anisotropic and parity-breaking generalization of the XXZ Heisenberg spin chain and its associated field theory. The system has no nonabelian global symmetries and generally does not admit a supersymmetric extension without the introduction of more propagating bosonic fields. For the case of a 2-state chain we find the spectrum and the eigenstates. For certain values of its coupling constants the field theory associated to this general type of chain is the bosonic sector of the q-deformation of N = 4 SYM theory. (author)

  6. Integrable open spin chains and the doubling trick in N = 2 SYM with fundamental matter

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Erler, Theodore G.; Mann, Nelia

    2006-01-01

    We demonstrate that the one-loop anomalous dimension matrix in N = 2 SYM with a single chiral hypermultiplet of fundamental matter, which is dual to AdS 5 x S 5 with a D7-brane filling AdS 5 and wrapped around an S 3 in the S 5 , is an integrable open spin chain Hamiltonian. We also use the doubling trick to relate these open spin chains to closed spin chains in pure N = 4 SYM. By using the AdS/CFT correspondence, we find a relation between the corresponding open and closed strings that differs from a simple doubling trick by terms that vanish in the semiclassical limit. We also demonstrate that in some cases the closed string is simpler and easier to study than the corresponding open string, and we speculate on the nature of corrections due to the presence of D-branes that this implies

  7. Methodology for Supply Chain Integration: A Case Study in the Artisan Industry of Footwear

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jorge Raúl Pérez-Gallardo

    2014-01-01

    Full Text Available The supply chain is a major issue in a global market. The efficient relationship between supplier-producer-retailer conforms the perfect combination to achieve a high level of competitiveness according to the needs of increasingly demanding and changing markets. The difficulty of synchronizing the members within the SC is related to the inherent uncertain factors. This paper proposes a methodology for integrating the supply chain that can be applied in any type of business. To demonstrate its relevance, a case study is performed at a handmade shoe company. An improved demand forecasting, an optimal balanced production line, a proper inventory management of raw materials, and an efficient calculation of the delivery time to the customer represent some of the main results.

  8. Innovation Across the Supply Chain

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Druehl, Cheryl; Carrillo, Janice; Hsuan, Juliana

    Innovation is an integral part of every firm’s ongoing operations. Beyond product innovation, supply chain innovations offer a unique source of competitive advantage. We synthesize recent research on innovation in the supply chain, specifically, innovative supply chain processes...

  9. The WTO Agreement on government procurement as a tool for Ukraine’s integration into the global value chains

    OpenAIRE

    GUZHVA IGOR

    2015-01-01

    The article deals with the features of modern internationalization of production and economic relations among economic entities around the world based on the global value chains formation. The essence and the basic provisions of the multilateral WTO Agreement on Government Procurement as the integration tool of Ukraine’s industries into the global value chains are revealed. The Ukraine’s government procurement reforming progress towards the relevant WTO rules and regulations full implementati...

  10. Risk Management in Logystics Chains

    OpenAIRE

    Butrin, Andrey; Vikulov, Vladimir

    2013-01-01

    Article is devoted to risk management of supply chain. The authors considered indicators of supply chain risks, including risks caused by supplier. Authors formed a method of optimizing the level of supply chain risk in the integration with suppliers and customers.

  11. Supply Chain Management

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Wieland, Andreas; Handfield, Robert B.

    Supply chain management has made great strides in becoming a discipline with a standalone body of theories. As part of this evolution, researchers have sought to embed and integrate observed supply chain management phenomena into theoretical statements. In our review, we explore where we have been...

  12. The Impact of Supply Chain Integration on Firm Performance in the Pork Processing Industry in China

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Han, J.; Lu, H.; Trienekens, J.H.; Omta, S.W.F.

    2013-01-01

    Purpose – Supply chain integration (SCI) is one of the most distinctive dimensions in achieving long-term competitive advantage in the business world. Although considerable state-of-the-art studies regarding the SCI concept and its dimensions have been conducted, empirical research by using the data

  13. Designing the Reverse Supply Chain

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Gobbi, Chiara

    2011-01-01

    Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore the impact of the product residual value (PRV) and the loss of value over time of returned products in the reverse supply chain configuration. It also examines whether or not the distinction of Fisher's functional and innovative products holds...... that allows for recapturing most of the PRV. These notions have then been tested by analyzing two reverse supply chains with a case study research methodology. Findings – The findings show that low PRV is associated with second-class recovery options (recycling and energy recovery) and that high PRV...... is associated with first-class recovery options (reconditioning and remarketing). When the recovery option is recycling, time is not relevant, the primary objective is cost reduction (efficiency), the chain is centralized, and actors and phases of the reverse chain are determined by the specificity...

  14. Dynamics of an inhomogeneous anisotropic antiferromagnetic spin chain

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Daniel, M.; Amuda, R.

    1994-11-01

    We investigate the nonlinear spin excitations in the two sublattice model of a one dimensional classical continuum Heisenberg inhomogeneous antiferromagnetic spin chain. The dynamics of the inhomogeneous chain reduces to that of its homogeneous counterpart when the inhomogeneity assumes a particular form. Apart from the usual twists and pulses, we obtain some planar configurations representing the nonlinear dynamics of spins. (author). 12 refs

  15. Quantum Group U_q(sl(2 Symmetry and Explicit Evaluation of the One-Point Functions of the Integrable Spin-1 XXZ Chain

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Tetsuo Deguchi

    2011-06-01

    Full Text Available We show some symmetry relations among the correlation functions of the integrable higher-spin XXX and XXZ spin chains, where we explicitly evaluate the multiple integrals representing the one-point functions in the spin-1 case. We review the multiple-integral representations of correlation functions for the integrable higher-spin XXZ chains derived in a region of the massless regime including the anti-ferromagnetic point. Here we make use of the gauge transformations between the symmetric and asymmetric R-matrices, which correspond to the principal and homogeneous gradings, respectively, and we send the inhomogeneous parameters to the set of complete 2s-strings. We also give a numerical support for the analytical expression of the one-point functions in the spin-1 case.

  16. Alternative types of molecule-decorated atomic chains in Au–CO–Au single-molecule junctions

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Zoltán Balogh

    2015-06-01

    Full Text Available We investigate the formation and evolution of Au–CO single-molecule break junctions. The conductance histogram exhibits two distinct molecular configurations, which are further investigated by a combined statistical analysis. According to conditional histogram and correlation analysis these molecular configurations show strong anticorrelations with each other and with pure Au monoatomic junctions and atomic chains. We identify molecular precursor configurations with somewhat higher conductance, which are formed prior to single-molecule junctions. According to detailed length analysis two distinct types of molecule-affected chain-formation processes are observed, and we compare these results to former theoretical calculations considering bridge- and atop-type molecular configurations where the latter has reduced conductance due to destructive Fano interference.

  17. Supply chain management for small business--how to avoid being part of the food chain.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Knechtges, J P; Watts, C A

    2000-08-01

    A supply chain is a series of customer and supplier relationships that extend throughout and beyond the company. It is an interwoven set of links that together form a chain supplying our customers in a seamless and integrated fashion delivering a high level of customer satisfaction. Supply chain management (SCM) integrates all activities so they are focused on customer satisfaction (both internally and externally). One of the things this article will attempt to accomplish is to provide a clear understanding of SCM's positive impact on customer service as well as on improving profitability, cash flow, product cycle times, and communication. Whether we go forward in the supply chain to the final end-user or backward in the supply chain to our supplier's suppliers, SCM will significantly improve our ability to serve our customers.

  18. Integrating the Department of Defense Supply Chain

    Science.gov (United States)

    2012-01-01

    Defense for Logistics and Materiel Readiness, DoD Supply Chain Materiel Management Procedures , DoD Manual 4140.01, Volumes 1 through 11, draft as of March...this is summarized in R. Glenn Richey, Jr., Anthony S. Roath, Judith M. Whipple , and Stanley E. Fawcett, “Exploring a Governance Theory of Supply...of this report, DoD Supply Chain Materiel Management Procedures (Assistant Secretary of Defense for Logis- tics and Materiel Readiness, DoD Manual

  19. Impact of Foreign Direct Investment and Barriers to MNC Supply Chain Integration in Vietnam

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Bilici Hamdi

    2017-04-01

    Full Text Available The Vietnamese economy has been progressing to become a supplier to many multinational corporations (MNC. However, barriers presently exist that prevent Vietnamese firms from fully integrating into the supply chain of these global actors. Weak FDI overflow and block trading has government officials and business executives troubled that Vietnamese firms are still on the periphery of these global supply networks. Even as MNCs operating in Vietnam import many semi-finished products from other countries, Vietnamese firms are not benefiting from the opportunities to incorporate into the supply chain because of the lack of global experience, FDI, an educated workforce and outdated facilities. Vietnamese firms must upgrade their facilities and equip their labor forces to acquire MNC contracts and find global partners who can supply financing and knowhow.

  20. Three magnons in an isotropic S = 1 ferromagnetic chain as an exactly solvable non-integrable system

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bibikov, P N

    2016-01-01

    It is shown that a generalization of the Bethe ansatz based on a utilization of degenerative discrete-diffractive wave functions solves the three-magnon problem for the S  =  1 isotropic ferromagnetic infinite chain. The four-magnon problem is briefly discussed. (paper: quantum statistical physics, condensed matter, integrable systems)

  1. Intellectual Model-Based Configuration Management Conception

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Bartusevics Arturs

    2014-07-01

    Full Text Available Software configuration management is one of the most important disciplines within the software development project, which helps control the software evolution process and allows including into the end project only tested and validated changes. To achieve this, software management completes certain tasks. Concrete tools are used for technical implementation of tasks, such as version control systems, servers of continuous integration, compilers, etc. A correct configuration management process usually requires several tools, which mutually exchange information by generating various kinds of transfers. When it comes to introducing the configuration management process, often there are situations when tool installation is started, yet at that given moment there is no general picture of the total process. The article offers a model-based configuration management concept, which foresees the development of an abstract model for the configuration management process that later is transformed to lower abstraction level models and tools are indicated to support the technical process. A solution of this kind allows a more rational introduction and configuration of tools

  2. Microsoft Windows 2000 Router Configuration Guide

    National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

    Richburg, Florence

    2001-01-01

    The purpose of this guide is to provide technical guidance to network administrators of small to medium size networks in the configuration and integration of Microsoft Windows 2000 Server Router features...

  3. Assessing the level of integration in the offshore wind industry value chain

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Martinez-Neri, Ivan; Mikkelsen, Ole Stegmann; Stentoft, Jan

    2014-01-01

    of the integration level of the offshore wind industry value chain. The work relies on a review of international peer-reviewed journals. The empirical basis of the paper is based on interviews with key players in the industry. The scope of this study covers the wind turbine generator, foundations, subsea cables......, offshore substation, installation vessels and the wind farm developer. The preliminary findings are that the different indus-trial sectors participating in the OWI are not aware of the maturity level of the sector. The fact that some developers are disintegrating the already integrated supply of some...... components highlights the importance of being aware of the industry’s maturity level to take appropriate decisions. On the other hand the strategic alliances taking part in various sectors of the OWI show that some of the players know that they have to join and share the expenses of much needed R...

  4. Strategic orientation in evaluation of supply chain activities

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Javad sofiyabadi

    2012-08-01

    Full Text Available Employment of supply chain management could impact the entire functional and practical aspects of industry and services positively and change the manager’s attitude toward the implementation of supply chain management systems from a cost-oriented attitude to an enabling attitude towards better activities with other chain members. Yet still many organizations do not have the required vision within the identification of strategic appropriate measure in implementation, evaluation and usage of proper benchmarks to attain an integrated chain. Constantly supply chain management activity can be introduced as a tied up with strategic level of organization. Hence, it is a necessary with an overall strategic approach to identify the criteria, which enable us to include the whole process level of chain, financial matter of chain activities, visible and invisible properties, human activity and turn all these activities into an integrated approach to resolve supply chain difficulties. In this paper, we present an integrated balanced score card combined with DEMATEL technique to prioritize different alternatives for supply chain implementation.

  5. Tank waste remediation system configuration management plan

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Vann, J.M.

    1998-01-01

    The configuration management program for the Tank Waste Remediation System (TWRS) Project Mission supports management of the project baseline by providing the mechanisms to identify, document, and control the functional and physical characteristics of the products. This document is one of the tools used to develop and control the mission and work. It is an integrated approach for control of technical, cost, schedule, and administrative information necessary to manage the configurations for the TWRS Project Mission. Configuration management focuses on five principal activities: configuration management system management, configuration identification, configuration status accounting, change control, and configuration management assessments. TWRS Project personnel must execute work in a controlled fashion. Work must be performed by verbatim use of authorized and released technical information and documentation. Application of configuration management will be consistently applied across all TWRS Project activities and assessed accordingly. The Project Hanford Management Contract (PHMC) configuration management requirements are prescribed in HNF-MP-013, Configuration Management Plan (FDH 1997a). This TWRS Configuration Management Plan (CMP) implements those requirements and supersedes the Tank Waste Remediation System Configuration Management Program Plan described in Vann, 1996. HNF-SD-WM-CM-014, Tank Waste Remediation System Configuration Management Implementation Plan (Vann, 1997) will be revised to implement the requirements of this plan. This plan provides the responsibilities, actions and tools necessary to implement the requirements as defined in the above referenced documents

  6. Prediction of Protein Configurational Entropy (Popcoen).

    Science.gov (United States)

    Goethe, Martin; Gleixner, Jan; Fita, Ignacio; Rubi, J Miguel

    2018-03-13

    A knowledge-based method for configurational entropy prediction of proteins is presented; this methodology is extremely fast, compared to previous approaches, because it does not involve any type of configurational sampling. Instead, the configurational entropy of a query fold is estimated by evaluating an artificial neural network, which was trained on molecular-dynamics simulations of ∼1000 proteins. The predicted entropy can be incorporated into a large class of protein software based on cost-function minimization/evaluation, in which configurational entropy is currently neglected for performance reasons. Software of this type is used for all major protein tasks such as structure predictions, proteins design, NMR and X-ray refinement, docking, and mutation effect predictions. Integrating the predicted entropy can yield a significant accuracy increase as we show exemplarily for native-state identification with the prominent protein software FoldX. The method has been termed Popcoen for Prediction of Protein Configurational Entropy. An implementation is freely available at http://fmc.ub.edu/popcoen/ .

  7. Generation of a quantum integrable class of discrete-time or relativistic periodic Toda chains

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kundu, Anjan

    1994-01-01

    A new integrable class of quantum models representing a family of different discrete-time or relativistic generalisations of the periodic Toda chain (TC), including that of a recently proposed classical model close to TC [Lett. Math. Phys. 29 (1993) 165] is presented. All such models are shown to be obtainable from a single ancestor model at different realisations of the underlying quantised algebra. As a consequence the 2x2 Lax operators and the associated quantum R-matrices for these models are easily derived ensuring their quantum integrability. It is shown that the functional Bethe ansatz developed for the quantum TC is trivially generalised to achieve separation of variables also for the present models. ((orig.))

  8. The coprime quantum chain

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mussardo, G.; Giudici, G.; Viti, J.

    2017-03-01

    In this paper we introduce and study the coprime quantum chain, i.e. a strongly correlated quantum system defined in terms of the integer eigenvalues n i of the occupation number operators at each site of a chain of length M. The n i ’s take value in the interval [2,q] and may be regarded as S z eigenvalues in the spin representation j  =  (q  -  2)/2. The distinctive interaction of the model is based on the coprimality matrix \\boldsymbolΦ : for the ferromagnetic case, this matrix assigns lower energy to configurations where occupation numbers n i and n i+1 of neighbouring sites share a common divisor, while for the anti-ferromagnetic case it assigns a lower energy to configurations where n i and n i+1 are coprime. The coprime chain, both in the ferro and anti-ferromagnetic cases, may present an exponential number of ground states whose values can be exactly computed by means of graph theoretical tools. In the ferromagnetic case there are generally also frustration phenomena. A fine tuning of local operators may lift the exponential ground state degeneracy and, according to which operators are switched on, the system may be driven into different classes of universality, among which the Ising or Potts universality class. The paper also contains an appendix by Don Zagier on the exact eigenvalues and eigenvectors of the coprimality matrix in the limit q\\to ∞ .

  9. INTEGRATION IN THE CHAIN: A CASE STUDY ON THE COLLABORATION IN THE CHAIN OF A RESALE COMPANY OF PARTS FOR INDUSTRIAL EQUIPMENT

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Inês Shinobu Chubachi

    2016-07-01

    Full Text Available The increasing market competition makes companies seek better results, through partnerships with suppliers, and it isnecessary to analyze and adapt to the requirements of customers and market. Thus, for the realization of this article, it is based on concepts of Logistics according to supply chain, intending to analyze operational processes and suggest improvements in results and competitive gains for collaboration in the chain of trade in pieces of industrial equipment company in the Greater São Paulo region. Therefore, we conducted literature searches through books and articles, as well as a case study, which in general, revealed that the supply chain of the studied company has great potential for improvement it once has modest integration actions compared to a model with a strategic focus and some deviations compared to the academic literature. Research results have shown issues such as ignorance of the subject proposed by the employees as well as the need to create alternatives to maximize the interaction between the sectors within the organization contributing more competitive solutions in addition to providing agility in the process as a whole. To carry out further research, it is recommended further study regarding the implementation of management information systems to improve some processes and, consequently, the outcome of that organization.

  10. Replicator dynamics in value chains

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Cantner, Uwe; Savin, Ivan; Vannuccini, Simone

    2016-01-01

    The pure model of replicator dynamics though providing important insights in the evolution of markets has not found much of empirical support. This paper extends the model to the case of firms vertically integrated in value chains. We show that i) by taking value chains into account, the replicator...... dynamics may revert its effect. In these regressive developments of market selection, firms with low fitness expand because of being integrated with highly fit partners, and the other way around; ii) allowing partner's switching within a value chain illustrates that periods of instability in the early...... stage of industry life-cycle may be the result of an 'optimization' of partners within a value chain providing a novel and simple explanation to the evidence discussed by Mazzucato (1998); iii) there are distinct differences in the contribution to market selection between the layers of a value chain...

  11. Alignment of Partnering with Construction IT : Exploration and Synthesis of network strategies to integrate BIM-enabled Supply Chains

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Papadonikolaki, E.

    2016-01-01

    Supply Chain Management (SCM) and Building Information Modelling (BIM) are seen as innovations that can manage complexities in construction by focusing on integrating processes and products respectively. Whereas these two innovations have been considered compatible, their practical combination has

  12. Designing a capacitated multi-configuration logistics network under disturbances and parameter uncertainty: a real-world case of a drug supply chain

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shishebori, Davood; Babadi, Abolghasem Yousefi

    2018-03-01

    This study investigates the reliable multi-configuration capacitated logistics network design problem (RMCLNDP) under system disturbances, which relates to locating facilities, establishing transportation links, and also allocating their limited capacities to the customers conducive to provide their demand on the minimum expected total cost (including locating costs, link constructing costs, and also expected costs in normal and disturbance conditions). In addition, two types of risks are considered; (I) uncertain environment, (II) system disturbances. A two-level mathematical model is proposed for formulating of the mentioned problem. Also, because of the uncertain parameters of the model, an efficacious possibilistic robust optimization approach is utilized. To evaluate the model, a drug supply chain design (SCN) is studied. Finally, an extensive sensitivity analysis was done on the critical parameters. The obtained results show that the efficiency of the proposed approach is suitable and is worthwhile for analyzing the real practical problems.

  13. Supply Chain Management In Construction Revealed

    OpenAIRE

    Dr. Ghaith Al-Werikat

    2017-01-01

    The construction supply chain plays a major role in the construction market competition. Construction supply chain management assists enterprises by helping to improve competitiveness increase profits and have more control over the different factors and variables within the project. This paper discusses the construction supply chain characteristics challenges and problems supply chains encounter and the benefits of an integrated supply chain in the construction sector.

  14. Stimulating Investments in Energy Efficiency Through Supply Chain Integration

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Beatrice Marchi

    2018-04-01

    Full Text Available Attention to energy efficiency is recently experiencing substantial growth. To overcome the several barriers currently existing that represent an obstacle to the successful implementation of the wide set of energy efficiency measures available, the cooperation among members of a supply chain offers a huge potential. In supply chains, in addition to the traditional coordination of the operations, the members may also share financial resources or act jointly on the capital market. This study presents a two-stage supply chain model considering the opportunity to invest in new energy efficient technologies which are affected by learning effects: the member of the supply chain with better energy performance and/or better financial conditions may find it more profitable to invest in the development of the energy efficiency of its partner. The objective of the model is to determine the optimal investment for each supply chain member so as to maximize the Net Present Value of the supply chain. The impacts of the proposed joint decision-making are investigated through some numerical analysis and managerial insights are proposed: the joint decision-making process on the financial flows for the energy efficiency investments results are especially advantageous (up to a 20% increase of the supply chain Net Present Value when members have different access to capital, which could be the result of different economic conditions in companies’ countries, as well as different credit policies or different credit ratings.

  15. A lattice gas model on a tangled chain

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Mejdani, R.

    1993-04-01

    We have used a model of a lattice gas defined on a tangled chain to study the enzyme kinetics by a modified transfer matrix method. By using a simple iterative algorithm we have obtained different kinds of saturation curves for different configurations of the tangled chain and different types of the additional interactions. In some special cases of configurations and interactions we have found the same equations for the saturation curves, which we have obtained before studying the lattice gas model with nearest neighbor interactions or the lattice gas model with alternate nearest neighbor interactions, using different techniques as the correlated walks' theory, the partition point technique or the transfer matrix model. This more general model and the new results could be useful for the experimental investigations. (author). 20 refs, 6 figs

  16. Information flow in the pharmaceutical supply chain.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yousefi, Nazila; Alibabaei, Ahmad

    2015-01-01

    Managing the supply chain plays an important role in creating competitive advantages for companies. Adequate information flow in supply chain is one of the most important issues in SCM. Therefore, using certain Information Systems can have a significant role in managing and integrating data and information within the supply chain. Pharmaceutical supply chain is more complex than many other supply chains, in the sense that it can affect social and political perspectives. On the other hand, managing the pharmaceutical supply chain is difficult because of its complexity and also government regulations in this field. Although, Iran has progressed a lot in pharmaceutical manufacturing, still there are many unsolved issues in managing the information flow in the pharmaceutical supply chain. In this study, we reviewed the benefits of using different levels of an integrated information system in the supply chain and the possible challenges ahead.

  17. Ramjets: Airframe integration

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Moerel, J.L.; Halswijk, W.

    2010-01-01

    These notes deal with the integration of a (sc)ramjet engine in either an axisymmetric or a waverider type of cruise missile configuration. The integration aspects relate to the integration of the external and internal flow paths in geometrical configurations that are being considered worldwide.

  18. CASE-BASED PRODUCT CONFIGURATION AND REUSE IN MASS CUSTOMIZATION

    Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

    Wang Shiwei; Tan Jianrong; Zhang Shuyou; Wang Xin; He Chenqi

    2004-01-01

    The increasing complexity and size of configuration knowledge bases requires the provision of advanced methods supporting the development of the actual configuration process and design reuse.A new framework to find a feasible and practical product configuration method is presented in mass customization.The basic idea of the approach is to integrate case-based reasoning (CBR) with a constraint satisfaction problem(CSP).The similarity measure between a crisp and range is also given,which is common in case retrieves.Based on the configuration model,a product platform and customer needs,case adaptation is carried out with the repair-based algorithm.Lastly,the methodology in the elevator configuration design domain is tested.

  19. Understanding transferable supply chain lessons and practices to a "high-tech" industry using guidelines from a primary sector industry: a case study in the food industry supply chain.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Coronado Mondragon, Adrian E; Coronado Mondragon, Christian E; Coronado, Etienne S

    2015-01-01

    Flexibility and innovation at creating shapes, adapting processes, and modifying materials characterize composites materials, a "high-tech" industry. However, the absence of standard manufacturing processes and the selection of materials with defined properties hinder the configuration of the composites materials supply chain. An interesting alternative for a "high-tech" industry such as composite materials would be to review supply chain lessons and practices in "low-tech" industries such as food. The main motivation of this study is to identify lessons and practices that comprise innovations in the supply chain of a firm in a perceived "low-tech" industry that can be used to provide guidelines in the design of the supply chain of a "high-tech" industry, in this case composite materials. This work uses the case study/site visit with analogy methodology to collect data from a Spanish leading producer of fresh fruit juice which is sold in major European markets and makes use of a cold chain. The study highlights supply base management and visibility/traceability as two elements of the supply chain in a "low-tech" industry that can provide guidelines that can be used in the configuration of the supply chain of the composite materials industry.

  20. Linking Supply Chain Governance and Biosecurity in the Context of HPAI Control in Western Java: A Value Chain Perspective

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Dikky Indrawan

    2018-05-01

    Full Text Available Despite extensive efforts to control the highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI, it remains endemic in Western Java, Indonesia. To understand the limited effectiveness of HPAI control measures, it is important to map the complex structure of the poultry sector. The governance of the poultry value chain in particular, could play a pivotal role, yet there is limited information on the different chain governance structures and their impacts on HPAI control. This article uses value chain analysis (VCA, focusing on an in-depth assessment of governance structures as well as transaction cost economics and quantitative estimates of the market power of different chain actors, to establish a theoretical framework to examine biosecurity and HPAI control in the Western Java poultry chain. During the research, semi-structured interviews were conducted with key value-chain stakeholders, and the economic performance of identified actors was estimated. Results indicated the co-existence of four different poultry value chains in West Java: the integrator chain, the semi-automated slaughterhouse chain, the controlled slaughter-point chain, and the private slaughter-point chain. The integrator chain was characterized by the highest levels of coordination and a tight, hierarchical governance. In contrast, the other three types of value chains were less coordinated. The market power of the different actors within the four value chains also differed. In more integrated chains, slaughterhouses held considerable market power, while in more informal value chains, market power was in the hands of traders. The economic effects of HPAI and biosecurity measures also varied for the identified actors in the different value chains. Implementation of biosecurity and HPAI control measures was strongly related to the governance structure of the chain, with interactions between different chains and governance structures accentuating the risk of HPAI. Our findings highlight that a

  1. Linking Supply Chain Governance and Biosecurity in the Context of HPAI Control in Western Java: A Value Chain Perspective

    Science.gov (United States)

    Indrawan, Dikky; Rich, Karl M.; van Horne, Peter; Daryanto, Arief; Hogeveen, Henk

    2018-01-01

    Despite extensive efforts to control the highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI), it remains endemic in Western Java, Indonesia. To understand the limited effectiveness of HPAI control measures, it is important to map the complex structure of the poultry sector. The governance of the poultry value chain in particular, could play a pivotal role, yet there is limited information on the different chain governance structures and their impacts on HPAI control. This article uses value chain analysis (VCA), focusing on an in-depth assessment of governance structures as well as transaction cost economics and quantitative estimates of the market power of different chain actors, to establish a theoretical framework to examine biosecurity and HPAI control in the Western Java poultry chain. During the research, semi-structured interviews were conducted with key value-chain stakeholders, and the economic performance of identified actors was estimated. Results indicated the co-existence of four different poultry value chains in West Java: the integrator chain, the semi-automated slaughterhouse chain, the controlled slaughter-point chain, and the private slaughter-point chain. The integrator chain was characterized by the highest levels of coordination and a tight, hierarchical governance. In contrast, the other three types of value chains were less coordinated. The market power of the different actors within the four value chains also differed. In more integrated chains, slaughterhouses held considerable market power, while in more informal value chains, market power was in the hands of traders. The economic effects of HPAI and biosecurity measures also varied for the identified actors in the different value chains. Implementation of biosecurity and HPAI control measures was strongly related to the governance structure of the chain, with interactions between different chains and governance structures accentuating the risk of HPAI. Our findings highlight that a proper

  2. Linking Supply Chain Governance and Biosecurity in the Context of HPAI Control in Western Java: A Value Chain Perspective.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Indrawan, Dikky; Rich, Karl M; van Horne, Peter; Daryanto, Arief; Hogeveen, Henk

    2018-01-01

    Despite extensive efforts to control the highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI), it remains endemic in Western Java, Indonesia. To understand the limited effectiveness of HPAI control measures, it is important to map the complex structure of the poultry sector. The governance of the poultry value chain in particular, could play a pivotal role, yet there is limited information on the different chain governance structures and their impacts on HPAI control. This article uses value chain analysis (VCA), focusing on an in-depth assessment of governance structures as well as transaction cost economics and quantitative estimates of the market power of different chain actors, to establish a theoretical framework to examine biosecurity and HPAI control in the Western Java poultry chain. During the research, semi-structured interviews were conducted with key value-chain stakeholders, and the economic performance of identified actors was estimated. Results indicated the co-existence of four different poultry value chains in West Java: the integrator chain, the semi-automated slaughterhouse chain, the controlled slaughter-point chain, and the private slaughter-point chain. The integrator chain was characterized by the highest levels of coordination and a tight, hierarchical governance. In contrast, the other three types of value chains were less coordinated. The market power of the different actors within the four value chains also differed. In more integrated chains, slaughterhouses held considerable market power, while in more informal value chains, market power was in the hands of traders. The economic effects of HPAI and biosecurity measures also varied for the identified actors in the different value chains. Implementation of biosecurity and HPAI control measures was strongly related to the governance structure of the chain, with interactions between different chains and governance structures accentuating the risk of HPAI. Our findings highlight that a proper

  3. Performance Metrics in Supply Chain Management. Evidence from Romanian Economy

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Alexandru Constăngioară

    2013-02-01

    Full Text Available The proposed empirical research uses a national sample of 19 Romanian companies from various industries to estimate de utilities for financial and non-financial performance measures used in Romanian supply chains. Empirical findings show that national supply chain measurement systems are balanced, using both financial and non-financial performance measures. The high estimated utility corresponding to indicators measuring logistic costs provides evidence that inter-functional and inter-organization integration in supply chains at national level are realized through operational excellence. Achieving the full potential of supply chain integration requires that management fosters both integration of operations and integration of customers.

  4. Supply Chain Management In Construction Revealed

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Dr. Ghaith Al-Werikat

    2017-03-01

    Full Text Available The construction supply chain plays a major role in the construction market competition. Construction supply chain management assists enterprises by helping to improve competitiveness increase profits and have more control over the different factors and variables within the project. This paper discusses the construction supply chain characteristics challenges and problems supply chains encounter and the benefits of an integrated supply chain in the construction sector.

  5. A representation basis for the quantum integrable spin chain associated with the su(3) algebra

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Hao, Kun [Institute of Modern Physics, Northwest University, Xian 710069 (China); Cao, Junpeng [Beijing National Laboratory for Condensed Matter Physics, Institute of Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100190 (China); Collaborative Innovation Center of Quantum Matter, Beijing (China); Li, Guang-Liang [Department of Applied Physics, Xian Jiaotong University, Xian 710049 (China); Yang, Wen-Li [Institute of Modern Physics, Northwest University, Xian 710069 (China); Beijing Center for Mathematics and Information Interdisciplinary Sciences, Beijing 100048 (China); Shi, Kangjie [Institute of Modern Physics, Northwest University, Xian 710069 (China); Wang, Yupeng [Beijing National Laboratory for Condensed Matter Physics, Institute of Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100190 (China); Collaborative Innovation Center of Quantum Matter, Beijing (China)

    2016-05-20

    An orthogonal basis of the Hilbert space for the quantum spin chain associated with the su(3) algebra is introduced. Such kind of basis could be treated as a nested generalization of separation of variables (SoV) basis for high-rank quantum integrable models. It is found that all the monodromy-matrix elements acting on a basis vector take simple forms. With the help of the basis, we construct eigenstates of the su(3) inhomogeneous spin torus (the trigonometric su(3) spin chain with antiperiodic boundary condition) from its spectrum obtained via the off-diagonal Bethe Ansatz (ODBA). Based on small sites (i.e. N=2) check, it is conjectured that the homogeneous limit of the eigenstates exists, which gives rise to the corresponding eigenstates of the homogenous model.

  6. Mastering demand and supply uncertainty with combined product and process configuration

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Verdouw, C.N.; Beulens, A.J.M.; Trienekens, J.H.; Verwaart, D.

    2010-01-01

    The key challenge for mastering high uncertainty of both demand and supply is to attune products and business processes in the entire supply chain continuously to customer requirements. Product configurators have proven to be powerful tools for managing demand uncertainty. This paper assesses how

  7. The role of enterprise systems in supply chain networks: a taxonomy of supply chain strategies

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Møller, Charles

    2006-01-01

    in the supply chain and to choose the right supply chain strategy. The work is based on a comprehensive study of the Supply Chain Management (SCM) and Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) literature and the study suggests that there is an emerging new research potential for Enterprise Systems (ES) in the supply......This paper proposes a taxonomy for supply chain integration strategies. The taxonomy is based on the contingencies of supply chain network coupling and the Extended Enterprise Systems (EES) architecture in the supply chain. The purpose of this model is to map the portfolio of relations...

  8. Understanding Transferable Supply Chain Lessons and Practices to a “High-Tech” Industry Using Guidelines from a Primary Sector Industry: A Case Study in the Food Industry Supply Chain

    Science.gov (United States)

    Coronado Mondragon, Adrian E.; Coronado, Etienne S.

    2015-01-01

    Flexibility and innovation at creating shapes, adapting processes, and modifying materials characterize composites materials, a “high-tech” industry. However, the absence of standard manufacturing processes and the selection of materials with defined properties hinder the configuration of the composites materials supply chain. An interesting alternative for a “high-tech” industry such as composite materials would be to review supply chain lessons and practices in “low-tech” industries such as food. The main motivation of this study is to identify lessons and practices that comprise innovations in the supply chain of a firm in a perceived “low-tech” industry that can be used to provide guidelines in the design of the supply chain of a “high-tech” industry, in this case composite materials. This work uses the case study/site visit with analogy methodology to collect data from a Spanish leading producer of fresh fruit juice which is sold in major European markets and makes use of a cold chain. The study highlights supply base management and visibility/traceability as two elements of the supply chain in a “low-tech” industry that can provide guidelines that can be used in the configuration of the supply chain of the composite materials industry. PMID:25821848

  9. Consumer driven supply chains: the case of Dutch organic tomato

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Anastasiadis, F.; Dam, van Y.K.

    2014-01-01

    Supply chain management refers to the efficient integration of various processes involved in turning resources into consumer products. Effectiveness of the supply chain is more easily understood in terms of Value Chain Management, and the integration of processes that turn resources into consumer

  10. Co-simulation of dynamic systems in parallel and serial model configurations

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Sweafford, Trevor; Yoon, Hwan Sik

    2013-01-01

    Recent advancement in simulation software and computation hardware make it realizable to simulate complex dynamic systems comprised of multiple submodels developed in different modeling languages. The so-called co-simulation enables one to study various aspects of a complex dynamic system with heterogeneous submodels in a cost-effective manner. Among several different model configurations for co-simulation, synchronized parallel configuration is regarded to expedite the simulation process by simulation multiple sub models concurrently on a multi core processor. In this paper, computational accuracies as well as computation time are studied for three different co-simulation frameworks : integrated, serial, and parallel. for this purpose, analytical evaluations of the three different methods are made using the explicit Euler method and then they are applied to two-DOF mass-spring systems. The result show that while the parallel simulation configuration produces the same accurate results as the integrated configuration, results of the serial configuration, results of the serial configuration show a slight deviation. it is also shown that the computation time can be reduced by running simulation in the parallel configuration. Therefore, it can be concluded that the synchronized parallel simulation methodology is the best for both simulation accuracy and time efficiency.

  11. Some aspects of configuration management at Nuclear Power Plant Krsko

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Heruc, Z.; Podhraski, M.

    2000-01-01

    Configuration Management (CM) objectives at Neck are to ensure consistency between Design Requirements, Physical Plant Configuration and Configuration Information. Software applications, supporting Design Change, Work Control and Document Control Processes, are integrated in one module-oriented Management Information System (MIS). From configuration management perspective, Master Equipment Component List (MECL) database is the central MIS module. Through a combination of a centralized database and process migrated activities (modifications, plant operation, maintenance, document control etc.), it is encored that the CM principles and requirements (accurate, current design dana matching plant's physical configuration while complying to applicable requirements), are followed and fulfilled. (author)

  12. NASA ERA Integrated CFD for Wind Tunnel Testing of Hybrid Wing-Body Configuration

    Science.gov (United States)

    Garcia, Joseph A.; Melton, John E.; Schuh, Michael; James, Kevin D.; Long, Kurt R.; Vicroy, Dan D.; Deere, Karen A.; Luckring, James M.; Carter, Melissa B.; Flamm, Jeffrey D.; hide

    2016-01-01

    NASAs Environmentally Responsible Aviation (ERA) Project explores enabling technologies to reduce aviations impact on the environment. One research challenge area for the project has been to study advanced airframe and engine integration concepts to reduce community noise and fuel burn. In order to achieve this, complex wind tunnel experiments at both the NASA Langley Research Centers (LaRC) 14x22 and the Ames Research Centers 40x80 low-speed wind tunnel facilities were conducted on a Boeing Hybrid Wing Body (HWB) configuration. These wind tunnel tests entailed various entries to evaluate the propulsion airframe interference effects including aerodynamic performance and aeroacoustics. In order to assist these tests in producing high quality data with minimal hardware interference, extensive Computational Fluid Dynamic (CFD) simulations were performed for everything from sting design and placement for both the wing body and powered ejector nacelle systems to the placement of aeroacoustic arrays to minimize its impact on the vehicles aerodynamics. This paper will provide a high level summary of the CFD simulations that NASA performed in support of the model integration hardware design as well as some simulation guideline development based on post-test aerodynamic data. In addition, the paper includes details on how multiple CFD codes (OVERFLOW, STAR-CCM+, USM3D, and FUN3D) were efficiently used to provide timely insight into the wind tunnel experimental setup and execution.

  13. Investigation of supply chain integration performance in export-focused manufacturing industry in China and an assessment of a local gymnastic products manufacturer.

    OpenAIRE

    Zhang, Chong

    2008-01-01

    The purpose of this dissertation is try to find out the gap between exported-focused Chinese manufacturing industry practice with world-class supply chain integration performance in developed countries. This is helpful to reveal and explain difficulties and obstacles that limit local suppliers to pursue better supply chain performance. A case study is used to analyze performance of a specific Chinese producer�¢����s supply chain and operations management. The results found out that wide...

  14. The correlation functions of hard-sphere chain fluids: Comparison of the Wertheim integral equation theory with the Monte Carlo simulation

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Chang, J.; Sandler, S.I.

    1995-01-01

    The correlation functions of homonuclear hard-sphere chain fluids are studied using the Wertheim integral equation theory for associating fluids and the Monte Carlo simulation method. The molecular model used in the simulations is the freely jointed hard-sphere chain with spheres that are tangentially connected. In the Wertheim theory, such a chain molecule is described by sticky hard spheres with two independent attraction sites on the surface of each sphere. The OZ-like equation for this associating fluid is analytically solved using the polymer-PY closure and by imposing a single bonding condition. By equating the mean chain length of this associating hard sphere fluid to the fixed length of the hard-sphere chains used in simulation, we find that the correlation functions for the chain fluids are accurately predicted. From the Wertheim theory we also obtain predictions for the overall correlation functions that include intramolecular correlations. In addition, the results for the average intermolecular correlation functions from the Wertheim theory and from the Chiew theory are compared with simulation results, and the differences between these theories are discussed

  15. Integrating structure, conduct and performance into value chain analysis

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Santana De Figueiredo Junior, H.; Meuwissen, M.P.M.; Oude Lansink, A.G.J.M.

    2014-01-01

    Value chain analysis has been adopted by several research and funding institutions for analysing local development opportunities. Development practitioners, however, are still looking for more solid grounds for value chain strategy development, especially since the expected outcomes of

  16. Forecasting return products in an integrated forward/reverse supply chain utilizing an ANFIS

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Kumar D. Thresh

    2014-09-01

    Full Text Available Interests in Closed-Loop Supply Chain (CLSC issues are growing day by day within the academia, companies, and customers. Many papers discuss profitability or cost reduction impacts of remanufacturing, but a very important point is almost missing. Indeed, there is no guarantee about the amounts of return products even if we know a lot about demands of first products. This uncertainty is due to reasons such as companies’ capabilities in collecting End-of-Life (EOL products, customers’ interests in returning (and current incentives, and other independent collectors. The aim of this paper is to deal with the important gap of the uncertainties of return products. Therefore, we discuss the forecasting method of return products which have their own open-loop supply chain. We develop an integrated two-phase methodology to cope with the closed-loop supply chain design and planning problem. In the first phase, an Adaptive Network Based Fuzzy Inference System (ANFIS is presented to handle the uncertainties of the amounts of return product and to determine the forecasted return rates. In the second phase, and based on the results of the first one, the proposed multi-echelon, multi-product, multi-period, closed-loop supply chain network is optimized. The second-phase optimization is undertaken based on using general exact solvers in order to achieve the global optimum. Finally, the performance of the proposed forecasting method is evaluated in 25 periods using a numerical example, which contains a pattern in the returning of products. The results reveal acceptable performance of the proposed two-phase optimization method. Based on them, such forecasting approaches can be applied to real-case CLSC problems in order to achieve more reliable design and planning of the network

  17. Modeling methodology for supply chain synthesis and disruption analysis

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wu, Teresa; Blackhurst, Jennifer

    2004-11-01

    The concept of an integrated or synthesized supply chain is a strategy for managing today's globalized and customer driven supply chains in order to better meet customer demands. Synthesizing individual entities into an integrated supply chain can be a challenging task due to a variety of factors including conflicting objectives, mismatched incentives and constraints of the individual entities. Furthermore, understanding the effects of disruptions occurring at any point in the system is difficult when working toward synthesizing supply chain operations. Therefore, the goal of this research is to present a modeling methodology to manage the synthesis of a supply chain by linking hierarchical levels of the system and to model and analyze disruptions in the integrated supply chain. The contribution of this research is threefold: (1) supply chain systems can be modeled hierarchically (2) the performance of synthesized supply chain system can be evaluated quantitatively (3) reachability analysis is used to evaluate the system performance and verify whether a specific state is reachable, allowing the user to understand the extent of effects of a disruption.

  18. Plug and Play Firms in the TNCs' Virtual Value Chain

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Teresa Pakulska

    2016-04-01

    Full Text Available Growing virtualisation of the value chain appears to be an expression of implementation of ICT solutions in international business represented by TNCs. This creates new opportunities for cooperation within the value chain and its composition. The growing importance in this area can be attributed to companies integrating the value chain, known as plug and play. Their integration into the value creation chain gives a new dimension to TNCs' strategic choices from the fragmentation of activity and its integration on an international scale point of view.

  19. MAP, MAC, and vortex-rings configurations in the Weinberg-Salam model

    Science.gov (United States)

    Teh, Rosy; Ng, Ban-Loong; Wong, Khai-Ming

    2015-11-01

    We report on the presence of new axially symmetric monopoles, antimonopoles and vortex-rings solutions of the SU(2)×U(1) Weinberg-Salam model of electromagnetic and weak interactions. When the ϕ-winding number n = 1, and 2, the configurations are monopole-antimonopole pair (MAP) and monopole-antimonopole chain (MAC) with poles of alternating sign magnetic charge arranged along the z-axis. Vortex-rings start to appear from the MAP and MAC configurations when the winding number n = 3. The MAP configurations possess zero net magnetic charge whereas the MAC configurations possess net magnetic charge of 4 πn / e. In the MAP configurations, the monopole-antimonopole pair is bounded by the Z0 field flux string and there is an electromagnetic current loop encircling it. The monopole and antimonopole possess magnetic charges ± 4πn/e sin2θW respectively. In the MAC configurations there is no string connecting the monopole and the adjacent antimonopole and they possess magnetic charges ± 4 πn/e respectively. The MAC configurations possess infinite total energy and zero magnetic dipole moment whereas the MAP configurations which are actually sphalerons possess finite total energy and magnetic dipole moment. The configurations were investigated for varying values of Higgs self-coupling constant 0 ≤ λ ≤ 40 at Weinberg angle θW = π/4.

  20. Inferring soil salinity in a drip irrigation system from multi-configuration EMI measurements using adaptive Markov chain Monte Carlo

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zaib Jadoon, Khan; Umer Altaf, Muhammad; McCabe, Matthew Francis; Hoteit, Ibrahim; Muhammad, Nisar; Moghadas, Davood; Weihermüller, Lutz

    2017-10-01

    A substantial interpretation of electromagnetic induction (EMI) measurements requires quantifying optimal model parameters and uncertainty of a nonlinear inverse problem. For this purpose, an adaptive Bayesian Markov chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) algorithm is used to assess multi-orientation and multi-offset EMI measurements in an agriculture field with non-saline and saline soil. In MCMC the posterior distribution is computed using Bayes' rule. The electromagnetic forward model based on the full solution of Maxwell's equations was used to simulate the apparent electrical conductivity measured with the configurations of EMI instrument, the CMD Mini-Explorer. Uncertainty in the parameters for the three-layered earth model are investigated by using synthetic data. Our results show that in the scenario of non-saline soil, the parameters of layer thickness as compared to layers electrical conductivity are not very informative and are therefore difficult to resolve. Application of the proposed MCMC-based inversion to field measurements in a drip irrigation system demonstrates that the parameters of the model can be well estimated for the saline soil as compared to the non-saline soil, and provides useful insight about parameter uncertainty for the assessment of the model outputs.

  1. Inferring soil salinity in a drip irrigation system from multi-configuration EMI measurements using adaptive Markov chain Monte Carlo

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    K. Z. Jadoon

    2017-10-01

    Full Text Available A substantial interpretation of electromagnetic induction (EMI measurements requires quantifying optimal model parameters and uncertainty of a nonlinear inverse problem. For this purpose, an adaptive Bayesian Markov chain Monte Carlo (MCMC algorithm is used to assess multi-orientation and multi-offset EMI measurements in an agriculture field with non-saline and saline soil. In MCMC the posterior distribution is computed using Bayes' rule. The electromagnetic forward model based on the full solution of Maxwell's equations was used to simulate the apparent electrical conductivity measured with the configurations of EMI instrument, the CMD Mini-Explorer. Uncertainty in the parameters for the three-layered earth model are investigated by using synthetic data. Our results show that in the scenario of non-saline soil, the parameters of layer thickness as compared to layers electrical conductivity are not very informative and are therefore difficult to resolve. Application of the proposed MCMC-based inversion to field measurements in a drip irrigation system demonstrates that the parameters of the model can be well estimated for the saline soil as compared to the non-saline soil, and provides useful insight about parameter uncertainty for the assessment of the model outputs.

  2. Inferring soil salinity in a drip irrigation system from multi-configuration EMI measurements using adaptive Markov chain Monte Carlo

    KAUST Repository

    Jadoon, Khan Zaib

    2017-10-26

    A substantial interpretation of electromagnetic induction (EMI) measurements requires quantifying optimal model parameters and uncertainty of a nonlinear inverse problem. For this purpose, an adaptive Bayesian Markov chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) algorithm is used to assess multi-orientation and multi-offset EMI measurements in an agriculture field with non-saline and saline soil. In MCMC the posterior distribution is computed using Bayes\\' rule. The electromagnetic forward model based on the full solution of Maxwell\\'s equations was used to simulate the apparent electrical conductivity measured with the configurations of EMI instrument, the CMD Mini-Explorer. Uncertainty in the parameters for the three-layered earth model are investigated by using synthetic data. Our results show that in the scenario of non-saline soil, the parameters of layer thickness as compared to layers electrical conductivity are not very informative and are therefore difficult to resolve. Application of the proposed MCMC-based inversion to field measurements in a drip irrigation system demonstrates that the parameters of the model can be well estimated for the saline soil as compared to the non-saline soil, and provides useful insight about parameter uncertainty for the assessment of the model outputs.

  3. The Supply Chain, a Strategic Marketing Approach

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ştefan Claudiu Căescu

    2013-02-01

    Full Text Available The main objective of this article is to integrate strategic marketing instruments within the supply chain in relationship with the suppliers. In order to integrate the commercial and economic activities at the supply chain level there is a need of developing tight relationships between the customer and the supplier. Thus, it is justified to approach the supply chain from a strategic perspective and the strategic marketing tools are perfectly applicable on the business-to-business market. Our research, has led us to the conclusion that, especially on business to business markets, organizations focus their marketing activities not only on the relationship with their customers, but on the relationship with their suppliers as well. In the supply chain, companies appear as buyers and as clients for the suppliers of goods, financial resources and of work force. Starting from this, we have developed a quantitative marketing research, interviewing 60 organizations from the business-to-business Romanian market, with the purpose of identifying the way in which companies from the B2b market integrate strategic marketing in their supply-chain.

  4. Technological and cross-border mixture value chain of science and engineering of multi-integrative mechatronics-integronics-adaptronics

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gheorghe, Gh. Ion; Popan, Gheorghe

    2013-10-01

    This scientific paper presents in national premiere and in original concept of the author, the scientific national and the author's original concept, the technological and cross-border mixture value chain of science and engineering of multi-integrative Mechatronics-Integronics-Adaptronics, as high-tech vector support development, for viability and sustainability of a new intelligent and competitive labour market.

  5. Ladder Ising spin configurations. Pt. 1. Heat capacity

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Mejdani, R.; Lambros, A.

    1996-01-01

    We consider a ladder Ising spin model (with two coupled Ising spin chains), characterized by two couplings (interchain and intrachain couplings), to study in detail, in an analytical way, its thermal behaviour and particularly the variation of the specific heat versus temperature, the ratio of interaction constants, and the magnetic field. It is interesting that when the competition between interchain and intrachain interactions is strong the specific heat exhibits a double peak and when the competition is not so strong the specific heat has a single peak. Further, without entering into details, we give, in a numerical way, some similar results for more complicated ladder configurations (with more than two linear Ising chains). The spin-1/2 ladders or systems of spin chains may be realized in nature by vanadyl pyrophosphate ((VO) 2 P 2 O 7 ) or similar materials. All these intermediate systems are today important to gain further insight into the physics of one-dimensional spin chains and two-dimensional high-T c spin systems, both of which have shown interesting and unusual magnetic and superconducting properties. It is plausible that experimental and theoretical studies of ladders may lead to other interesting physical phenomena. (orig.)

  6. Integrated Supplier Selection Framework in a Resilient Construction Supply Chain: An Approach via Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP and Grey Relational Analysis (GRA

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ting-Kwei Wang

    2017-02-01

    Full Text Available Construction supply chain management is a unique and problematic issue within the construction industry due to its inevitable external risks and variations. The resilience capability of a supplier is of significance in supplier selection; a supplier selected in the context of a resilient construction supply chain (RCSC is referred to in this research as a “resilient construction supplier”. This paper proposes a supplier selection framework tailored to effective information integration for supply chain management. The proposed framework works by integrating building information modeling (BIM and a geographic information system (GIS in a RCSC. BIM and GIS together provide highly transparent construction material information, enhanced supply chain status visualization, and workable access information for supplier selection. Supplier performance is evaluated via seventeen resilient criteria under a combined methodology consisting of the analytic hierarchy process (AHP and grey relational analysis (GRA; AHP and GRA weigh the criteria and rank the suppliers respectively. By varying the weightings given to each criterion, sensitivity analysis was conducted to identify the criteria of resilience which impact the selection priorities of suppliers. An illustrative example is also provided to show the overall process of the proposed framework.

  7. The self-description data configuration model

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Abadie, Lana, E-mail: lana.abadie@iter.org [ITER Organization, Route de vinon sur Verdon, 13115 St Paul Lez Durance (France); Di Maio, Franck; Klotz, Wolf-Dieter; Mahajan, Kirti; Stepanov, Denis; Utzel, Nadine; Wallander, Anders [ITER Organization, Route de vinon sur Verdon, 13115 St Paul Lez Durance (France)

    2012-12-15

    Highlights: Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer We use the relational model to represent the configuration data for ITER. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer We explain the different modeled views namely physical, functional and control. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer We explain how this information is used to generate configuration files. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer We explain that this information is validated. - Abstract: ITER will consist of roughly 160 plant systems I and C delivered in kind which need to be integrated into the ITER control infrastructure. To make the integration of all these plant systems I and C, a smooth operation, the CODAC (Controls, Data Access and Communications) group release every year the core software environment which consists of many applications. In this paper we would like to describe what configuration data and how it is modeled in the version 2. The model is based on three views, the physical one which lists the components with their signals, the functional view which describes the control functions and variables required to implement them and the control view which links the two previous views. We use Hibernate as an ORM (Object Relational Mapping) framework with a PostgreSQL database and Spring as a framework to handle transactions.

  8. Risk assessment and management logistics chains

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Vladimir Vikulov

    2014-03-01

    Full Text Available Background: In the context of economic globalization and increasing complexity of economic relations enterprises need methods and techniques to improve and sustain their position on the global market. Integration processes offer business new opportunities, but at the same time present new challenges for the management, including the key objectives of the risk management. Method: On the basis of analysis tools known from the pertinent literature (Supply Chain Management and Supply Chain Risk Management methods, methods of probability theory, methods of risk management, methods of statistics the authors of this paper proposed their own risk assessment method and the method of management of logistics chains. The proposed tool is a specific hybrid of solutions known from the literature. Results: The presented method has been successfully used within the frames of economic-mathematical model of industrial enterprises. Indicators of supply chain risks, including risks caused by supplier are considered in this paper. Authors formed a method of optimizing the level of supply chain risk in the integration with suppliers and customers. Conclusion: Every organization, which starting the process of integration with supplier and customers, needs to use tools, methodologies and techniques for identification of "weak links" in the supply chain. The proposed method allows to fix risk origin places in various links of the supply chain and to identify "weak links" of a logistic chain that may occur in the future. The method is a useful tool for managing not only risks and risk situations, but also to improve the efficiency of current assets management by providing the ability to optimize the level of risk in the current assets management of the industrial enterprise.

  9. Chiral classical states in a rhombus and a rhombi chain of Josephson junctions with two-band superconducting elements

    CERN Document Server

    Dias, R G; Coutinho, B C; Martins, L P

    2014-01-01

    We present a study of Josephson junctions arrays with two-band superconducting elements in the highcapacitance limit. We consider two particular geometries for these arrays: a single rhombus and a rhombi chain with two-band superconducting elements at the spinal positions. We show that the rhombus shaped JJ circuit and the rhombi chain can be mapped onto a triangular JJ circuit and a JJ two-leg ladder, respectively, with zero effective magnetic flux, but with Josephson couplings that are magnetic flux dependent. If the two-band superconductors are in a sign-reversed pairing state, one observes transitions to or from chiral phase configurations in the mapped superconducting arrays when magnetic flux or temperature are varied. The phase diagram for these chiral configurations is discussed. When half-flux quantum threads each rhombus plaquette, new phase configurations of the rhombi chain appear that are characterized by the doubling of the periodicity of the energy density along the chain, with every other two-...

  10. Bose and Fermi walk configurations on planar graphs

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Arrowsmith, D K; Bhatti, F M; Essam, J W

    2012-01-01

    The number, f C n (H), of n-walk configurations of type C is investigated on certain two-rooted directed planar graphs H which will be always realized as plane graphs in R 2 . C may be Bose or Fermi as defined by Inui and Katori. Both types of configuration are collections of non-crossing walks which follow the directed paths between the roots of the plane graph H. In the case of configurations of Fermi type each walk may be included only once. The number f Bose n (H) is shown to be a polynomial in n of degree n max − 1 where n max is the maximum number of walks in a Fermi configuration. The coefficient of the highest power of n in this polynomial is simply related to the number of maximal Fermi walk configurations. It is also shown that n max = c(H) + 1 where c(H) is the number of finite faces on H. Extension of these results to multi-rooted graphs is also discussed. When H is the union of paths between two sites of the directed square lattice subject to various boundary conditions Kreweras showed that the number of Bose configurations is equal to the number of n-element multi-chains on segments of Young’s lattice. He expressed this number as a determinant the elements of which are polynomials in n. We evaluate this determinant by the method of LU decomposition in the case of ‘watermelon’ configurations above a wall. In this case the polynomial is a product of linear factors but on introducing a second wall the polynomial does not completely factorize but has a factor which is the number of watermelon configurations on the largest rectangular subgraph. The number of two-rooted ‘star’ configurations is found to be the product of the numbers of watermelon configurations on the three rectangular subgraphs into which it may be partitioned. (paper)

  11. Uncertainty assessment of integrated distributed hydrological models using GLUE with Markov chain Monte Carlo sampling

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Blasone, Roberta-Serena; Madsen, Henrik; Rosbjerg, Dan

    2008-01-01

    uncertainty estimation (GLUE) procedure based on Markov chain Monte Carlo sampling is applied in order to improve the performance of the methodology in estimating parameters and posterior output distributions. The description of the spatial variations of the hydrological processes is accounted for by defining......In recent years, there has been an increase in the application of distributed, physically-based and integrated hydrological models. Many questions regarding how to properly calibrate and validate distributed models and assess the uncertainty of the estimated parameters and the spatially......-site validation must complement the usual time validation. In this study, we develop, through an application, a comprehensive framework for multi-criteria calibration and uncertainty assessment of distributed physically-based, integrated hydrological models. A revised version of the generalized likelihood...

  12. Configurational statistics of a polymer chain with random sequence of elements

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Obukhov, S.P.

    1984-10-01

    It is shown that for a disordered polymer chain the upper critical dimension is d c =3. At d≤3 the effect of randomness increases on large scales due to the space correlations of attractive and repulsive monomers, but it can also be screened by repulsive two- or three-body interaction. The renorm group equations indicate that near the theta point it can be the large dispersion of sizes of polymers which differ only in sequences of elements. (orig.)

  13. Competence-Based Approach in Value Chain Processes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Azevedo, Rodrigo Cambiaghi; D'Amours, Sophie; Rönnqvist, Mikael

    There is a gap between competence theory and value chain processes frameworks. While individually considered as core elements in contemporary management thinking, the integration of the two concepts is still lacking. We claim that this integration would allow for the development of more robust business models by structuring value chain activities around aspects such as capabilities and skills, as well as individual and organizational knowledge. In this context, the objective of this article is to reduce this gap and consequently open a field for further improvements of value chain processes frameworks.

  14. Secure Supply Chains : Design Restrictions & Organizational Boundaries

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Ludema, M.W.

    2009-01-01

    An important issue in the design of secure supply chains is the understanding of the relation between supply chains and the organizational responsibility of specific parts of these supply chains. Organizational boundaries change over time by means of vertical and/or horizontal (des)-integration and

  15. Demand chain management - The evolution

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    D Ericsson

    2011-06-01

    Full Text Available The concepts of Supply Chain Management (SCM and Demand Chain Management (DCM are among the new and debated topics concerning logistics in the literature. The question considered in this paper is: “Are these concepts needed or will they just add to the confusion?” Lasting business concepts have always evolved in close interaction between business and academia. Different approaches start out in business and they are then, more or less si- multaneously, aligned, integrated, systemised and structured in academia. In this way a terminology (or language is provided that helps in further diffusion of the concepts. There is a lack of consensus on the definition of the concept of SCM. This may be one of the major reasons for the difficulty in advancing the science and measuring the results of implementation in business. Relationships in SCM span from rather loose coalitions to highly structured virtual network integrations. DCM is a highly organised chain in which the key is mutual interdependence and partnership. The purpose is to create a distinctive competence for the chain as a whole that helps to identify and satisfy customer needs and wishes. The classical research concerning vertical marketing systems is very helpful in systemising the rather unstructured discussions in current SCM research. The trend lies in increasing competition between channels rather than between companies, which in turn leads to the creation of channels with a high degree of partnership and mutual interdependence between members. These types of channels are known as organised vertical marketing systems in the classic marketing channel research. The behaviour in these types of channels, as well as the formal and informal structures, roles in the network, power and dependence relations, etc. are well covered topics in the literature. The concept of vertical marketing systems lies behind the definition of demand chains and demand chain management proposed in this paper. A

  16. Surveying the quantum group symmetries of integrable open spin chains

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nepomechie, Rafael I.; Retore, Ana L.

    2018-05-01

    Using anisotropic R-matrices associated with affine Lie algebras g ˆ (specifically, A2n(2), A2n-1 (2) , Bn(1), Cn(1), Dn(1)) and suitable corresponding K-matrices, we construct families of integrable open quantum spin chains of finite length, whose transfer matrices are invariant under the quantum group corresponding to removing one node from the Dynkin diagram of g ˆ . We show that these transfer matrices also have a duality symmetry (for the cases Cn(1) and Dn(1)) and additional Z2 symmetries that map complex representations to their conjugates (for the cases A2n-1 (2) , Bn(1) and Dn(1)). A key simplification is achieved by working in a certain "unitary" gauge, in which only the unbroken symmetry generators appear. The proofs of these symmetries rely on some new properties of the R-matrices. We use these symmetries to explain the degeneracies of the transfer matrices.

  17. Supply chain quality management

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Hannan Amoozad Mahdiraji

    2012-10-01

    Full Text Available In recent years, there are several methods introduced for the improvement of operational performances. Total quality management and supply chain management are two methods recommended for this purpose. These two approaches have been studied in most researches separately, while they have objectives in common, and this makes them a strategic means, which can be used, simultaneously. Total quality management and supply chain management play significant roles to increase the organizational competitiveness power. Moreover, they have only one purpose that is customer satisfaction, and they are different only on their approaches to reach their objectives. In this research, we aim to study both approaches of quality management and supply chain, their positive increasing effects that may be generated after their integration. For this purpose, the concept and definitions of each approach is studied, independently, their similarities and differences are recognized, and finally, the advantages of their integration are introduced.

  18. Cost management in the internal value chain of integrated application of activity-based costing, Kaizen concept and target costing

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Pešić-Tomić Vesna

    2014-01-01

    Full Text Available The objective of this paper is an effort to view the possibilities of integrated use of target costing, activity based costing and Kaizen concept in the internal value chain as the central link of the entire chain. The idea is to stimulate the company management to think about the costs, position they take in the structure of price cost and their influence on forming the sales price since it is very important to produce right product for the consumer, of desired quality and functionality but along with as low production costs as possible. It is therefore needed to construct the right design of a product and provide its production at the shortest possible time along with as low costs as possible which will impact the efficiency of the entire value chain.

  19. Configuration management program plan for Hanford site systems engineering

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hoffman, A.G.

    1994-01-01

    This plan establishes the integrated configuration management program for the evolving technical baseline developed through the systems engineering process. This configuration management program aligns with the criteria identified in the DOE Standard, DOE-STD-1073-93. Included are specific requirements for control of the systems engineering RDD-100 database, and electronic data incorporated in the database that establishes the Hanford site technical baseline

  20. CMS Configuration Editor: GUI based application for user analysis job

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Cosa, A de

    2011-01-01

    We present the user interface and the software architecture of the Configuration Editor for the CMS experiment. The analysis workflow is organized in a modular way integrated within the CMS framework that organizes in a flexible way user analysis code. The Python scripting language is adopted to define the job configuration that drives the analysis workflow. It could be a challenging task for users, especially for newcomers, to develop analysis jobs managing the configuration of many required modules. For this reason a graphical tool has been conceived in order to edit and inspect configuration files. A set of common analysis tools defined in the CMS Physics Analysis Toolkit (PAT) can be steered and configured using the Config Editor. A user-defined analysis workflow can be produced starting from a standard configuration file, applying and configuring PAT tools according to the specific user requirements. CMS users can adopt this tool, the Config Editor, to create their analysis visualizing in real time which are the effects of their actions. They can visualize the structure of their configuration, look at the modules included in the workflow, inspect the dependences existing among the modules and check the data flow. They can visualize at which values parameters are set and change them according to what is required by their analysis task. The integration of common tools in the GUI needed to adopt an object-oriented structure in the Python definition of the PAT tools and the definition of a layer of abstraction from which all PAT tools inherit.

  1. Integrability and soliton in a classical one dimensional site dependent biquadratic Heisenberg spin chain and the effect of nonlinear inhomogeneity

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kavitha, L.; Daniel, M.

    2002-07-01

    The integrability of one dimensional classical continuum inhomogeneous biquadratic Heisenberg spin chain and the effect of nonlinear inhomogeneity on the soliton of an underlying completely integrable spin model are studied. The dynamics of the spin system is expressed in terms of a higher order generalized nonlinear Schroedinger equation through a differential geometric approach which becomes integrable for a particular choice of the biquadratic exchange interaction and for linear inhomogeneity. The effect of nonlinear inhomogeneity on the spin soliton is studied by carrying out a multiple scale perturbation analysis. (author)

  2. Optimizing the order processing of customized products using product configuration

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Hvam, Lars; Bonev, Martin; Denkena, B.

    2011-01-01

    . Product configuration based on integrated modular product structure and product family architecture has been recognized as an effective means for implementing mass customization. In order to evaluate the effects of product configuration on order processing, a study has been conducted by the Department...... and its benefits for the order processing have been evaluated....

  3. Supply chain orchestration and choreography: Programmable logistics using semantics

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Dalmolen, Simon; Moonen, Hans; van Hillegersberg, Jos; Stoter, A.J.R.; Cornelisse, E.

    2015-01-01

    Interoperability between enterprise systems in supply chains is increasingly essential for successful supply chain integration and key in the creation of innovative businesses / business models. In this paper we present a novel approach for supply chain choreography to support supply chain

  4. The application of design criteria for locating a hub configured supply chain for a restaurant cluster in the Stellenbosch area

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Claudia B. Struwig

    2013-06-01

    Full Text Available Restaurants, in general, utilise numerous suppliers. Normally they deliver on different days in the week and at different times during the day, logistically not an optimum approach. Not only does the current practice cause frequent interruptions, but by segregating the food supply chain unnecessary traffic is generated. This article investigated the need for developing a third party supplier hub, the best positioning of that hub and the most economical routes to the customers. With the aim of providing non-franchised restaurants with the necessary leverage to become market leaders, the hub is planned to only service the restaurants within the vicinity of the Stellenbosch area. In such a hub-configured supply chain, the suppliers would be delivering to the proposed hub, from where once-off deliveries to all the restaurants may be made on days and/or times determined by them. In order to investigate the benefits of providing such a hub structure, a systematic implementation approach was used. The first step was to do market research in order to establish the need for such a hub. That is, the viability of the hub from a restaurant’s perspective was established. The next step entailed the investigation of the design criteria needed in determining a favourable hub location. Four possible hub locations were identified. The Clark and Wright’s savings algorithm was then used to determine the optimal hub location and the feasibility of the results was verified with the aid of a global positioning system (GPS device. The last steps followed involved the determination of an effective hub floor plan that may be utilised, possible products that can be supplied to the restaurants and the necessary assets needed to provide the hub’s service. Finally, by incorporating all these facets, a cost analysis was done to determine the hub’s profitability.

  5. Information flow in the pharmaceutical supply chain

    OpenAIRE

    Yousefi, Nazila; Alibabaei, Ahmad

    2015-01-01

    Managing the supply chain plays an important role in creating competitive advantages for companies. Adequate information flow in supply chain is one of the most important issues in SCM. Therefore, using certain Information Systems can have a significant role in managing and integrating data and information within the supply chain. Pharmaceutical supply chain is more complex than many other supply chains, in the sense that it can affect social and political perspectives. On the other hand, man...

  6. Automatic creation of simulation configuration

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Oudot, G.; Poizat, F.

    1993-01-01

    SIPA, which stands for 'Simulator for Post Accident', includes: 1) a sophisticated software oriented workshop SWORD (which stands for 'Software Workshop Oriented towards Research and Development') designed in the ADA language including integrated CAD system and software tools for automatic generation of simulation software and man-machine interface in order to operate run-time simulation; 2) a 'simulator structure' based on hardware equipment and software for supervision and communications; 3) simulation configuration generated by SWORD, operated under the control of the 'simulator structure' and run on a target computer. SWORD has already been used to generate two simulation configurations (French 900 MW and 1300 MW nuclear power plants), which are now fully operational on the SIPA training simulator. (Z.S.) 1 ref

  7. Quench dynamics of two coupled zig-zag ion chains

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Klumpp, Andrea, E-mail: andrea.klumpp@physnet.uni-hamburg.de [Zentrum für Optische Quantentechnologien, Universität Hamburg, Luruper Chaussee 149, 22761 Hamburg (Germany); Liebchen, Benno [SUPA, School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh EH9 3FD (United Kingdom); Schmelcher, Peter [Zentrum für Optische Quantentechnologien, Universität Hamburg, Luruper Chaussee 149, 22761 Hamburg (Germany); The Hamburg Centre for Ultrafast Imaging, Luruper Chaussee 149, 22761 Hamburg (Germany)

    2016-08-06

    We explore the non-equilibrium dynamics of two coupled zig-zag chains of trapped ions in a double well potential. Following a quench of the potential barrier between both wells, the induced coupling between both chains due to the long-range interaction of the ions leads to the complete loss of order in the radial direction. The resulting dynamics is however not exclusively irregular but leads to phases of motion during which various ordered structures appear with ions arranged in arcs, lines and crosses. We quantify the emerging order by introducing a suitable measure and complement our analysis of the ion dynamics using a normal mode analysis showing a decisive population transfer between only a few distinguished modes. - Highlights: • Novel dynamical phenomenology of two coupled zig-zag ion chains following a trap quench is explored. • Transient ordered ion configurations are unraveled in non-equilibrium dynamics dominated by irregular behavior. • A measure for the diagnosis of this transient order is introduced and applied. • Energy transfer between a few eigen modes is identified as the key mechanism for the occurrence of the ordered configurations.

  8. Managing the Global Supply Chain

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Skjøtt-Larsen, Tage; Schary, Philip B.; Mikkola, Juliana Hsuan

    The world today faces global competition. The supply chain is vital part of the globalization process. Presenting a global view of the scope and complexity of supply chain management, this book reflects the rapid change that has taken place within the supply chain and its environment. This new...... edition has been fully updated with recent changes in concepts, technology and practice. Integration and collaboration are keywords in future competition. Firms must be agile and lean at the same time. The book gives an insightful overview of the conceptual foundations of the global supply chain, as...... well as current examples of best practice of managing supply chains in a global context....

  9. Managing the Global Supply Chain

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Hsuan, Juliana; Skjøtt-Larsen, Tage; Kinra, Aseem

    The world today faces global competition. The supply chain is vital part of the globalization process. Presenting a global view of the scope and complexity of supply chain management, this book reflects the rapid change that has taken place within the supply chain and its environment. This new...... well as current examples of best practice of managing supply chains in a global context....... edition has been fully updated with recent changes in concepts, technology and practice. Integration and collaboration are keywords in future competition. Firms must be agile and lean at the same time. The book gives an insightful overview of the conceptual foundations of the global supply chain, as...

  10. Optimal scope of supply chain network & operations design

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Ma, N.

    2014-01-01

    The increasingly complex supply chain networks and operations call for the development of decision support systems and optimization techniques that take a holistic view of supply chain issues and provide support for integrated decision-making. The economic impacts of optimized supply chain are

  11. Design of supply chain in fuzzy environment

    OpenAIRE

    Rao, Kandukuri Narayana; Subbaiah, Kambagowni Venkata; Singh, Ganja Veera Pratap

    2013-01-01

    Nowadays, customer expectations are increasing and organizations are prone to operate in an uncertain environment. Under this uncertain environment, the ultimate success of the firm depends on its ability to integrate business processes among supply chain partners. Supply chain management emphasizes cross-functional links to improve the competitive strategy of organizations. Now, companies are moving from decoupled decision processes towards more integrated design and control of their compone...

  12. Quantifying Configuration-Sampling Error in Langevin Simulations of Complex Molecular Systems

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Josh Fass

    2018-04-01

    Full Text Available While Langevin integrators are popular in the study of equilibrium properties of complex systems, it is challenging to estimate the timestep-induced discretization error: the degree to which the sampled phase-space or configuration-space probability density departs from the desired target density due to the use of a finite integration timestep. Sivak et al., introduced a convenient approach to approximating a natural measure of error between the sampled density and the target equilibrium density, the Kullback-Leibler (KL divergence, in phase space, but did not specifically address the issue of configuration-space properties, which are much more commonly of interest in molecular simulations. Here, we introduce a variant of this near-equilibrium estimator capable of measuring the error in the configuration-space marginal density, validating it against a complex but exact nested Monte Carlo estimator to show that it reproduces the KL divergence with high fidelity. To illustrate its utility, we employ this new near-equilibrium estimator to assess a claim that a recently proposed Langevin integrator introduces extremely small configuration-space density errors up to the stability limit at no extra computational expense. Finally, we show how this approach to quantifying sampling bias can be applied to a wide variety of stochastic integrators by following a straightforward procedure to compute the appropriate shadow work, and describe how it can be extended to quantify the error in arbitrary marginal or conditional distributions of interest.

  13. Planning of outsourced operations in pharmaceutical supply chains

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Boulaksil, Y.

    2010-01-01

    In this dissertation, we focus on the planning and control of supply chains where part of the supply chain is outsourced to a contract manufacturer(s). Supply Chain Management deals with the integration of business processes from end-customers through original suppliers that provide products,

  14. Double path integral method for obtaining the mobility of the one-dimensional charge transport in molecular chain.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yoo-Kong, Sikarin; Liewrian, Watchara

    2015-12-01

    We report on a theoretical investigation concerning the polaronic effect on the transport properties of a charge carrier in a one-dimensional molecular chain. Our technique is based on the Feynman's path integral approach. Analytical expressions for the frequency-dependent mobility and effective mass of the carrier are obtained as functions of electron-phonon coupling. The result exhibits the crossover from a nearly free particle to a heavily trapped particle. We find that the mobility depends on temperature and decreases exponentially with increasing temperature at low temperature. It exhibits large polaronic-like behaviour in the case of weak electron-phonon coupling. These results agree with the phase transition (A.S. Mishchenko et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 114, 146401 (2015)) of transport phenomena related to polaron motion in the molecular chain.

  15. Direct Observation of Magnetocrystalline Anisotropy Tuning Magnetization Configurations in Uniaxial Magnetic Nanomaterials

    KAUST Repository

    Zhu, Shimeng; Fu, Jiecai; Li, Hongli; Zhu, Liu; Hu, Yang; Xia, Weixing; Zhang, Xixiang; Peng, Yong; Zhang, Junli

    2018-01-01

    Discovering the effect of magnetic anisotropy on the magnetization configurations of magnetic nanomaterials is essential and significant for not only enriching the fundamental knowledge of magnetics but also facilitating the designs of desired magnetic nanostructures for diverse technological applications, such as data storage devices, spintronic devices, and magnetic nanosensors. Herein, we present a direct observation of magnetocrystalline anisotropy tuning magnetization configurations in uniaxial magnetic nanomaterials with hexagonal structure by means of three modeled samples. The magnetic configuration in polycrystalline BaFe12O19 nanoslice is a curling structure, revealing that the effect of magnetocrystalline anisotropy in uniaxial magnetic nanomaterials can be broken by forming an amorphous structure or polycrystalline structure with tiny grains. Both single crystalline BaFe12O19 nanoslice and individual particles of single-particle-chain BaFe12O19 nanowire appear in a single domain state, revealing a dominant role of magnetocrystalline anisotropy in the magnetization configuration of uniaxial magnetic nanomaterials. These observations are further verified by micromagnetic computational simulations.

  16. Direct Observation of Magnetocrystalline Anisotropy Tuning Magnetization Configurations in Uniaxial Magnetic Nanomaterials

    KAUST Repository

    Zhu, Shimeng

    2018-03-20

    Discovering the effect of magnetic anisotropy on the magnetization configurations of magnetic nanomaterials is essential and significant for not only enriching the fundamental knowledge of magnetics but also facilitating the designs of desired magnetic nanostructures for diverse technological applications, such as data storage devices, spintronic devices, and magnetic nanosensors. Herein, we present a direct observation of magnetocrystalline anisotropy tuning magnetization configurations in uniaxial magnetic nanomaterials with hexagonal structure by means of three modeled samples. The magnetic configuration in polycrystalline BaFe12O19 nanoslice is a curling structure, revealing that the effect of magnetocrystalline anisotropy in uniaxial magnetic nanomaterials can be broken by forming an amorphous structure or polycrystalline structure with tiny grains. Both single crystalline BaFe12O19 nanoslice and individual particles of single-particle-chain BaFe12O19 nanowire appear in a single domain state, revealing a dominant role of magnetocrystalline anisotropy in the magnetization configuration of uniaxial magnetic nanomaterials. These observations are further verified by micromagnetic computational simulations.

  17. CMS Configuration Editor: GUI based application for user analysis job definition

    CERN Document Server

    De Cosa, Annapaola

    2010-01-01

    We present the user interface and the software architecture of the Configuration Editor that is used by CMS physicists to configure their physics analysis tasks. Analysis workflows typically involve execution of a sequence of algorithms, and these are implemented as software modules that are integrated within the CMS software framework (CMSSW). In particular, a set of common analysis tools is provided in the so-called CMS Physics Analysis Toolkit (PAT) and these need to be steered and configured during the execution of an analysis job. The Python scripting language is used to define the job configuration that drives the analysis workflow. Configuring analysis jobs can be quite a challenging task, particularly for newcomers, and therefore a graphical tool, called the Configuration Editor, has been developed to facilitate the creation and inspection of these configuration files. Typically, a user-defined analysis workflow can be produced starting from a standard configuration file, applying and configuring PAT ...

  18. Concurrent Product & Supply Chain Creation

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Gubi, Ebbe

    it is a structural premise. We also know that logistics costs generally are estimated 15-20% of total product costs. Accordingly, it stands to reason that a company can reduce costs, and thereby gain an edge on its competitors, by tailoring the supply chain in question to an individual product or product family; i.......e. by creating Focused Supply Chains. At the same time, customer satisfaction can be increased. As a second means to achieving a better fit between product and supply chain, the firm can deploy Design for Logistics, the discipline of considering the supply chain during product creation. The thesis sets out...... and supply chains should be created concurrently and integrated. The concept of Concurrent Product & Supply Chain Creation is introduced, and the two main components Focused Supply Chains and Design For Logistics are explained and exemplified by use of Bang & Olufsen....

  19. Interplant coordination, supply chain integration, and operational performance of a plant in a manufacturing network

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Yang, Cheng; Chaudhuri, Atanu; Farooq, Sami

    2016-01-01

    Purpose The objective of this paper is to investigate the relationships at the level of plant in a manufacturing network, labelled as networked plant in the paper, between (1) inter-plant coordination and operational performance, (2) supply chain integration (SCI) and operational performance......, and (3) inter-plant coordination and SCI. Design/methodology/approach This paper is developed based on the data obtained from the sixth version of International Manufacturing Strategy Survey (IMSS VI). Specifically, this paper uses a subset of the IMSS VI data set from the 606 plants that identified...

  20. Z n clock models and chains of so(n)2 non-Abelian anyons: symmetries, integrable points and low energy properties

    Science.gov (United States)

    Finch, Peter E.; Flohr, Michael; Frahm, Holger

    2018-02-01

    We study two families of quantum models which have been used previously to investigate the effect of topological symmetries in one-dimensional correlated matter. Various striking similarities are observed between certain {Z}n quantum clock models, spin chains generalizing the Ising model, and chains of non-Abelian anyons constructed from the so(n)2 fusion category for odd n, both subject to periodic boundary conditions. In spite of the differences between these two types of quantum chains, e.g. their Hilbert spaces being spanned by tensor products of local spin states or fusion paths of anyons, the symmetries of the lattice models are shown to be closely related. Furthermore, under a suitable mapping between the parameters describing the interaction between spins and anyons the respective Hamiltonians share part of their energy spectrum (although their degeneracies may differ). This spin-anyon correspondence can be extended by fine-tuning of the coupling constants leading to exactly solvable models. We show that the algebraic structures underlying the integrability of the clock models and the anyon chain are the same. For n  =  3,5,7 we perform an extensive finite size study—both numerical and based on the exact solution—of these models to map out their ground state phase diagram and to identify the effective field theories describing their low energy behaviour. We observe that the continuum limit at the integrable points can be described by rational conformal field theories with extended symmetry algebras which can be related to the discrete ones of the lattice models.

  1. Linking corporate strategy and supply chain management

    OpenAIRE

    Hofmann, Erik

    2009-01-01

    Purpose of this paper: The paper researches the linkages between corporate and supply chain strategy. It represents a stage of an on-going research initiative aimed at providing a framework for understanding systematically the integration of corporate strategy making and supply chain management. Design/methodology/approach: The paper engaged itself in the theory/literature related to strategic and supply chain management. Four generic levels of strategy are linked to supply chain ma...

  2. A way for reducing drug supply chain cost for a hospital district: A case study

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Postacchini, L.; Ciarapica, F.E.; Bevilacqua, M.; Mazzuto, G.; Paciarotti, C.

    2016-07-01

    This work aims at providing insights to optimise healthcare logistic of the drug management, in order to deal with the healthcare expenditure cut. In this paper the effects of different drug supply chain configurations, on the resulting average stock, service level and Bullwhip effect, of the studied supply chain, is quantitatively assessed. A case study of an Italian district has been studied, taking into account three echelons: suppliers, central stock, and hospitals. A model of the various supply chain configurations has been created with the use of the simulation. Specifically, 24 supply chain configurations have been examined, stemming from the combination of several supply chain design parameters, namely: transshipment policies (Emergency Lateral Transshipment or Total Inventory Equalization); re-order and inventory management policies (Economic Order Quantity or Economic Order Interval); required service levels (90% or 95%); the number of available vans (one or two). For each configuration, hospital average stock, service level and a “Bullwhip effect” analysis are computed. To know which input variables are statistically significant, a DoE (Design of Experiments) analysis has been executed. The output of this paper provides useful insights and suggestions to optimize the healthcare logistic and drug supply chain. According to the developed DoE analysis, it can be stated that the introduction of transshipment policies provides important improvement in terms of service and stock levels. To reduce the Bullwhip effect, which results in a service level decreasing, and in a managing stock costs increasing, it is worth to adopt an EOQ re-order policy. This research gives practical recommendations to the studied system, in order to reduce costs and maintain a very satisfactory service level. This paper fulfils an identified need to study which combination of transshipment policies, re-order/inventory management policies and required service levels, can be the

  3. A way for reducing drug supply chain cost for a hospital district: A case study

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Leonardo Postacchini

    2016-03-01

    Full Text Available Purpose: This work aims at providing insights to optimise healthcare logistic of the drug management, in order to deal with the healthcare expenditure cut. In this paper the effects of different drug supply chain configurations, on the resulting average stock, service level and Bullwhip effect, of the studied supply chain, is quantitatively assessed. Design/methodology/approach: A case study of an Italian district has been studied, taking into account three echelons: suppliers, central stock, and hospitals. A model of the various supply chain configurations has been created with the use of the simulation. Specifically, 24 supply chain configurations have been examined, stemming from the combination of several supply chain design parameters, namely: transshipment policies (Emergency Lateral Transshipment or Total Inventory Equalization; re-order and inventory management policies (Economic Order Quantity or Economic Order Interval; required service levels (90% or 95%; the number of available vans (one or two. For each configuration, hospital average stock, service level and a “Bullwhip effect” analysis are computed. To know which input variables are statistically significant, a DoE (Design of Experiments analysis has been executed. Findings: The output of this paper provides useful insights and suggestions to optimize the healthcare logistic and drug supply chain. According to the developed DoE analysis, it can be stated that the introduction of transshipment policies provides important improvement in terms of service and stock levels. To reduce the Bullwhip effect, which results in a service level decreasing, and in a managing stock costs increasing, it is worth to adopt an EOQ re-order policy. Practical implications: This research gives practical recommendations to the studied system, in order to reduce costs and maintain a very satisfactory service level. Originality/value: This paper fulfils an identified need to study which combination of

  4. Flexible event reconstruction software chains with the ALICE High-Level Trigger

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ram, D; Breitner, T; Szostak, A

    2012-01-01

    The ALICE High-Level Trigger (HLT) has a large high-performance computing cluster at CERN whose main objective is to perform real-time analysis on the data generated by the ALICE experiment and scale it down to at-most 4GB/sec - which is the current maximum mass-storage bandwidth available. Data-flow in this cluster is controlled by a custom designed software framework. It consists of a set of components which can communicate with each other via a common control interface. The software framework also supports the creation of different configurations based on the detectors participating in the HLT. These configurations define a logical data processing “chain” of detector data-analysis components. Data flows through this software chain in a pipelined fashion so that several events can be processed at the same time. An instance of such a chain can run and manage a few thousand physics analysis and data-flow components. The HLT software and the configuration scheme used in the 2011 heavy-ion runs of ALICE, has been discussed in this contribution.

  5. Model-Driven Configuration of SELinux Policies

    Science.gov (United States)

    Agreiter, Berthold; Breu, Ruth

    The need for access control in computer systems is inherent. However, the complexity to configure such systems is constantly increasing which affects the overall security of a system negatively. We think that it is important to define security requirements on a non-technical level while taking the application domain into respect in order to have a clear and separated view on security configuration (i.e. unblurred by technical details). On the other hand, security functionality has to be tightly integrated with the system and its development process in order to provide comprehensive means of enforcement. In this paper, we propose a systematic approach based on model-driven security configuration to leverage existing operating system security mechanisms (SELinux) for realising access control. We use UML models and develop a UML profile to satisfy these needs. Our goal is to exploit a comprehensive protection mechanism while rendering its security policy manageable by a domain specialist.

  6. Supply chain planning classification

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hvolby, Hans-Henrik; Trienekens, Jacques; Bonde, Hans

    2001-10-01

    Industry experience a need to shift in focus from internal production planning towards planning in the supply network. In this respect customer oriented thinking becomes almost a common good amongst companies in the supply network. An increase in the use of information technology is needed to enable companies to better tune their production planning with customers and suppliers. Information technology opportunities and supply chain planning systems facilitate companies to monitor and control their supplier network. In spite if these developments, most links in today's supply chains make individual plans, because the real demand information is not available throughout the chain. The current systems and processes of the supply chains are not designed to meet the requirements now placed upon them. For long term relationships with suppliers and customers, an integrated decision-making process is needed in order to obtain a satisfactory result for all parties. Especially when customized production and short lead-time is in focus. An effective value chain makes inventory available and visible among the value chain members, minimizes response time and optimizes total inventory value held throughout the chain. In this paper a supply chain planning classification grid is presented based current manufacturing classifications and supply chain planning initiatives.

  7. Steam condensation induced water hammer in a vertical up-fill configuration within an integral test facility. Experiments and computational simulations

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Dirndorfer, Stefan

    2017-01-17

    Condensation induced water hammer is a source of danger and unpredictable loads in pipe systems. Studies concerning condensation induced water hammer were predominantly made for horizontal pipes, studies concerning vertical pipe geometries are quite rare. This work presents a new integral test facility and an analysis of condensation induced water hammer in a vertical up-fill configuration. Thanks to the state of the art technology, the phenomenology of vertical condensation induced water hammer can be analysed by means of sufficient high-sampled experimental data. The system code ATHLET is used to simulate UniBw condensation induced water hammer experiments. A newly developed and implemented direct contact condensation model enables ATHLET to calculate condensation induced water hammer. Selected experiments are validated by the modified ATHLET system code. A sensitivity analysis in ATHLET, together with the experimental data, allows to assess the performance of ATHLET to compute condensation induced water hammer in a vertical up-fill configuration.

  8. Steam condensation induced water hammer in a vertical up-fill configuration within an integral test facility. Experiments and computational simulations

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Dirndorfer, Stefan

    2017-01-01

    Condensation induced water hammer is a source of danger and unpredictable loads in pipe systems. Studies concerning condensation induced water hammer were predominantly made for horizontal pipes, studies concerning vertical pipe geometries are quite rare. This work presents a new integral test facility and an analysis of condensation induced water hammer in a vertical up-fill configuration. Thanks to the state of the art technology, the phenomenology of vertical condensation induced water hammer can be analysed by means of sufficient high-sampled experimental data. The system code ATHLET is used to simulate UniBw condensation induced water hammer experiments. A newly developed and implemented direct contact condensation model enables ATHLET to calculate condensation induced water hammer. Selected experiments are validated by the modified ATHLET system code. A sensitivity analysis in ATHLET, together with the experimental data, allows to assess the performance of ATHLET to compute condensation induced water hammer in a vertical up-fill configuration.

  9. SUSY field theories in higher dimensions and integrable spin chains

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Gorsky, A.; Gukov, S.; Mironov, A.

    1998-01-01

    Five- and six-dimensional SUSY gauge theories, with one or two compactified directions, are discussed. The 5d theories with the matter hypermultiplets in the fundamental representation are associated with the twisted XXZ spin chain, while the group product case with bi-fundamental matter corresponds to the higher rank spin chains. The Riemann surfaces for 6d theories with fundamental matter and two compact directions are proposed to correspond to the XYZ spin chain based on the Sklyanin algebra. We also discuss the obtained results within the brane and geometrical engineering frameworks and explain the relation to the toric diagrams. (orig.)

  10. Integrated approach to the development of the ITER control system configuration data

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Stepanov, D.; Abadie, L.; Bertin, J.; Bourguignon, G.; Darcourt, G.; Liotard, O.

    2012-01-01

    ITER control system (CODAC) will rely on a large number of configuration data, coming from different sources. This information is being created using different tools, stored in various databases and, generally, has different life-cycle. In many cases it is difficult for instrumentation and control (IC) engineers to have a common view on this information or to check data consistency. The plant system profile database, described in this paper, tries to address these issues by gathering all IC-specific information in the same database and providing means to analyze these data. At the design phase, the current ITER infrastructure and CODAC practices have been evaluated, and the following architectural and software decisions have been made: -1) the database back-end should be Microsoft SQL Server; -2) the application should have web interface; -3) business logic and the user interface should be written in Java. Prime Faces should be used for the user interface, Spring for transactional support and Java Hibernate for interaction with the database; and -4) data integration tool should be Talend. The task was launched in September 2010; in February 2011 the first version was put in production, and it was gradually introduced into CODAC processes in the following months

  11. An integrated one-chip-sensor system for microRNA quantitative analysis based on digital droplet polymerase chain reaction

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tsukuda, Masahiko; Wiederkehr, Rodrigo Sergio; Cai, Qing; Majeed, Bivragh; Fiorini, Paolo; Stakenborg, Tim; Matsuno, Toshinobu

    2016-04-01

    A silicon microfluidic chip was developed for microRNA (miRNA) quantitative analysis. It performs sequentially reverse transcription and polymerase chain reaction in a digital droplet format. Individual processes take place on different cavities, and reagent and sample mixing is carried out on a chip, prior to entering each compartment. The droplets are generated on a T-junction channel before the polymerase chain reaction step. Also, a miniaturized fluorescence detector was developed, based on an optical pick-up head of digital versatile disc (DVD) and a micro-photomultiplier tube. The chip integrated in the detection system was tested using synthetic miRNA with known concentrations, ranging from 300 to 3,000 templates/µL. Results proved the functionality of the system.

  12. Integrated model for line balancing with workstation inventory management

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Dilip Roy

    2010-06-01

    Full Text Available In this paper, we address the optimization of an integrated line balancing process with workstation inventory management. While doing so, we have studied the interconnection between line balancing and its conversion process. Almost each and every moderate to large manufacturing industry depends on a long and integrated supply chain, consisting of inbound logistic, conversion process and outbound logistic. In this sense an approach addresses a very general problem of integrated line balancing. Research works reported in the literature so far mainly deals with minimization of cost for inbound and outbound logistic subsystems. In most of the cases conversion process has been ignored. We suggest a generic approach for linking the balancing of the line of production in the conversion area with the customers’ rate of demand in the market and for configuring the related stock chambers. Thus, the main aim of this paper is to translate the underlying problem in the form of mixed nonlinear programming problem and design the optimum supply chain so that the total inventory cost and the cost of balancing loss of the conversion process is jointly minimized and ideal cycle time of the production process is determined along with ideal sizes of the stock chambers. A numerical example has been added to demonstrate the suitability of our approach.

  13. Spatiotemporal dynamics of Bose-Einstein condensates in linear- and circular-chain optical lattices

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Tsukada, N.

    2002-01-01

    We investigate the spatiotemporal dynamics of Bose-Einstein condensates in optical lattices that have a linear-or a circular-chain configuration with the tunneling couplings between nearest-neighbor lattice sites. A discrete nonlinear Schroedinger equation has been solved for various initial conditions and for a definite range of repulsive and attractive interatomic interactions. It is shown that the diversity of the spatiotemporal dynamics of the atomic population distribution such as a macroscopic self-trapping, bright and dark solitons, and symmetry breaking is derived from the positive and negative interatomic interactions. For the circular-chain configuration, two types of rotational modes are obtained as we introduce a definite relation for the initial phase conditions

  14. Ising model on tangled chain - 1: Free energy and entropy

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Mejdani, R.

    1993-04-01

    In this paper we have considered an Ising model defined on tangled chain, in which more bonds have been added to those of pure Ising chain. to understand their competition, particularly between ferromagnetic and antiferromagnetic bonds, we have studied, using the transfer matrix method, some simple analytical calculations and an iterative algorithm, the behaviour of the free energy and entropy, particularly in the zero-field and zero temperature limit, for different configurations of the ferromagnetic tangled chain and different types of addition interaction (ferromagnetic or antiferromagnetic). We found that the condition J=J' between the ferromagnetic interaction J along the chain and the antiferromagnetic interaction J' across the chain is somewhat as a ''transition-region'' condition for this behaviour. Our results indicate also the existence of non-zero entropy at zero temperature. (author). 17 refs, 8 figs

  15. Co-linear spin configurations in corundum-type structures

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bertaut, F.

    1961-01-01

    The colinear magnetic configurations possible in corundum-type structures (α-Fe 2 O 3 ; Cr 2 O 3 ) are solutions of a matrices problem. Their regions of stability are bounded by inequality relationships between exchange integrals. (author) [fr

  16. Delivering Sustainability Through Supply Chain Distribution Network Redesign

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Denise Ravet

    2013-09-01

    Full Text Available Purpose - Companies could gain (cost, service, green/sustainable competitive advantage through the supply chain network. The goal of this article is to study how to deliver sustainability through the supply chain distribution network redesign.Design/methodology/approach - A literature review is conducted to examine research relating to sustainable supply chain strategies and supply chain distribution network redesign.Findings - A study of the supply chain literature reveals the importance to rethink the supply chain distribution network design and to treat sustainability as integral to operations.

  17. Integrating RFID Technology and EPC Network into a B2B Retail Supply Chain: A Step Toward Intelligent Business Processes

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Samuel Fosso Wamba

    2007-06-01

    Full Text Available This article introduces RFID technology and the EPC Network and investigates their potential for B-to-B eCommerce supply chain management. Based on empirical data gathered from four tightly interrelated firms from three layers of a supply chain, several scenarios integrating RFID and the EPC Network have been tested and evaluated. In the context of warehousing activities in one specific retail supply chain, the results indicate that i the business process approach seems quite appropriate to capture the real potential of RFID and the EPC Network; ii RFID technology and the EPC Network can improve the “shipping” and the “receiving” processes; iii they can automatically trigger some business processes; iv they foster a higher level of information sharing between supply chain members; and v they promote the emergence of new business processes such as “process-to-process,” “process-to-machine,” and “machine-to-machine.” The paper helps to improve our understanding of the real potential of RFID and the EPC Network for business processes.

  18. Integrable Seven-Point Discrete Equations and Second-Order Evolution Chains

    Science.gov (United States)

    Adler, V. E.

    2018-04-01

    We consider differential-difference equations defining continuous symmetries for discrete equations on a triangular lattice. We show that a certain combination of continuous flows can be represented as a secondorder scalar evolution chain. We illustrate the general construction with a set of examples including an analogue of the elliptic Yamilov chain.

  19. Plasmonic nanoparticle chain in a light field: a resonant optical sail.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Albaladejo, Silvia; Sáenz, Juan José; Marqués, Manuel I

    2011-11-09

    Optical trapping and driving of small objects has become a topic of increasing interest in multidisciplinary sciences. We propose to use a chain made of metallic nanoparticles as a resonant light sail, attached by one end point to a transparent object and propelling it by the use of electromagnetic radiation. Driving forces exerted on the chain are theoretically studied as a function of radiation's wavelength and chain's alignments with respect to the direction of radiation. Interestingly, there is a window in the frequency spectrum in which null-torque equilibrium configuration, with minimum geometric cross section, corresponds to a maximum in the driving force.

  20. An integrated methodology for the dynamic performance and reliability evaluation of fault-tolerant systems

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Dominguez-Garcia, Alejandro D.; Kassakian, John G.; Schindall, Joel E.; Zinchuk, Jeffrey J.

    2008-01-01

    We propose an integrated methodology for the reliability and dynamic performance analysis of fault-tolerant systems. This methodology uses a behavioral model of the system dynamics, similar to the ones used by control engineers to design the control system, but also incorporates artifacts to model the failure behavior of each component. These artifacts include component failure modes (and associated failure rates) and how those failure modes affect the dynamic behavior of the component. The methodology bases the system evaluation on the analysis of the dynamics of the different configurations the system can reach after component failures occur. For each of the possible system configurations, a performance evaluation of its dynamic behavior is carried out to check whether its properties, e.g., accuracy, overshoot, or settling time, which are called performance metrics, meet system requirements. Markov chains are used to model the stochastic process associated with the different configurations that a system can adopt when failures occur. This methodology not only enables an integrated framework for evaluating dynamic performance and reliability of fault-tolerant systems, but also enables a method for guiding the system design process, and further optimization. To illustrate the methodology, we present a case-study of a lateral-directional flight control system for a fighter aircraft

  1. Excitonic quantum interference in a quantum dot chain with rings.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hong, Suc-Kyoung; Nam, Seog Woo; Yeon, Kyu-Hwang

    2008-04-16

    We demonstrate excitonic quantum interference in a closely spaced quantum dot chain with nanorings. In the resonant dipole-dipole interaction model with direct diagonalization method, we have found a peculiar feature that the excitation of specified quantum dots in the chain is completely inhibited, depending on the orientational configuration of the transition dipole moments and specified initial preparation of the excitation. In practice, these excited states facilitating quantum interference can provide a conceptual basis for quantum interference devices of excitonic hopping.

  2. An ontology-based semantic configuration approach to constructing Data as a Service for enterprises

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cai, Hongming; Xie, Cheng; Jiang, Lihong; Fang, Lu; Huang, Chenxi

    2016-03-01

    To align business strategies with IT systems, enterprises should rapidly implement new applications based on existing information with complex associations to adapt to the continually changing external business environment. Thus, Data as a Service (DaaS) has become an enabling technology for enterprise through information integration and the configuration of existing distributed enterprise systems and heterogonous data sources. However, business modelling, system configuration and model alignment face challenges at the design and execution stages. To provide a comprehensive solution to facilitate data-centric application design in a highly complex and large-scale situation, a configurable ontology-based service integrated platform (COSIP) is proposed to support business modelling, system configuration and execution management. First, a meta-resource model is constructed and used to describe and encapsulate information resources by way of multi-view business modelling. Then, based on ontologies, three semantic configuration patterns, namely composite resource configuration, business scene configuration and runtime environment configuration, are designed to systematically connect business goals with executable applications. Finally, a software architecture based on model-view-controller (MVC) is provided and used to assemble components for software implementation. The result of the case study demonstrates that the proposed approach provides a flexible method of implementing data-centric applications.

  3. Coordination of Advertising Free Riding in Hybrid Channel Supply Chain

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jin Sha

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available Advertising is a crucial tool for demand creation and market expansion; enterprises in supply chain use it widely to increase sales and improve profits. But the homogeneity of products sold in hybrid channel supply chain magnifies the positive externalities of advertising and leads to serious free-riding problem. To coordinate the supply chain effectively, firstly, this paper classifies hybrid channel supply chain based on the relationship between members and selects horizontally integrated, vertically integrated, and decentralized hybrid channel supply chains as research objects. Then, a demand function considering the common effect of price and advertising is proposed and coordination schemes for different types of supply chains are designed. Finally, a sensitivity analysis is performed to assess the impact of parameters on coordination using orthogonal experiment.

  4. Nuclear deformation in the configuration-interaction shell model

    Science.gov (United States)

    Alhassid, Y.; Bertsch, G. F.; Gilbreth, C. N.; Mustonen, M. T.

    2018-02-01

    We review a method that we recently introduced to calculate the finite-temperature distribution of the axial quadrupole operator in the laboratory frame using the auxiliary-field Monte Carlo technique in the framework of the configuration-interaction shell model. We also discuss recent work to determine the probability distribution of the quadrupole shape tensor as a function of intrinsic deformation β,γ by expanding its logarithm in quadrupole invariants. We demonstrate our method for an isotope chain of samarium nuclei whose ground states describe a crossover from spherical to deformed shapes.

  5. Configuration Management File Manager Developed for Numerical Propulsion System Simulation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Follen, Gregory J.

    1997-01-01

    One of the objectives of the High Performance Computing and Communication Project's (HPCCP) Numerical Propulsion System Simulation (NPSS) is to provide a common and consistent way to manage applications, data, and engine simulations. The NPSS Configuration Management (CM) File Manager integrated with the Common Desktop Environment (CDE) window management system provides a common look and feel for the configuration management of data, applications, and engine simulations for U.S. engine companies. In addition, CM File Manager provides tools to manage a simulation. Features include managing input files, output files, textual notes, and any other material normally associated with simulation. The CM File Manager includes a generic configuration management Application Program Interface (API) that can be adapted for the configuration management repositories of any U.S. engine company.

  6. Proactive Supply Chain Performance Management with Predictive Analytics

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Nenad Stefanovic

    2014-01-01

    Full Text Available Today’s business climate requires supply chains to be proactive rather than reactive, which demands a new approach that incorporates data mining predictive analytics. This paper introduces a predictive supply chain performance management model which combines process modelling, performance measurement, data mining models, and web portal technologies into a unique model. It presents the supply chain modelling approach based on the specialized metamodel which allows modelling of any supply chain configuration and at different level of details. The paper also presents the supply chain semantic business intelligence (BI model which encapsulates data sources and business rules and includes the data warehouse model with specific supply chain dimensions, measures, and KPIs (key performance indicators. Next, the paper describes two generic approaches for designing the KPI predictive data mining models based on the BI semantic model. KPI predictive models were trained and tested with a real-world data set. Finally, a specialized analytical web portal which offers collaborative performance monitoring and decision making is presented. The results show that these models give very accurate KPI projections and provide valuable insights into newly emerging trends, opportunities, and problems. This should lead to more intelligent, predictive, and responsive supply chains capable of adapting to future business environment.

  7. Proactive supply chain performance management with predictive analytics.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Stefanovic, Nenad

    2014-01-01

    Today's business climate requires supply chains to be proactive rather than reactive, which demands a new approach that incorporates data mining predictive analytics. This paper introduces a predictive supply chain performance management model which combines process modelling, performance measurement, data mining models, and web portal technologies into a unique model. It presents the supply chain modelling approach based on the specialized metamodel which allows modelling of any supply chain configuration and at different level of details. The paper also presents the supply chain semantic business intelligence (BI) model which encapsulates data sources and business rules and includes the data warehouse model with specific supply chain dimensions, measures, and KPIs (key performance indicators). Next, the paper describes two generic approaches for designing the KPI predictive data mining models based on the BI semantic model. KPI predictive models were trained and tested with a real-world data set. Finally, a specialized analytical web portal which offers collaborative performance monitoring and decision making is presented. The results show that these models give very accurate KPI projections and provide valuable insights into newly emerging trends, opportunities, and problems. This should lead to more intelligent, predictive, and responsive supply chains capable of adapting to future business environment.

  8. Proactive Supply Chain Performance Management with Predictive Analytics

    Science.gov (United States)

    Stefanovic, Nenad

    2014-01-01

    Today's business climate requires supply chains to be proactive rather than reactive, which demands a new approach that incorporates data mining predictive analytics. This paper introduces a predictive supply chain performance management model which combines process modelling, performance measurement, data mining models, and web portal technologies into a unique model. It presents the supply chain modelling approach based on the specialized metamodel which allows modelling of any supply chain configuration and at different level of details. The paper also presents the supply chain semantic business intelligence (BI) model which encapsulates data sources and business rules and includes the data warehouse model with specific supply chain dimensions, measures, and KPIs (key performance indicators). Next, the paper describes two generic approaches for designing the KPI predictive data mining models based on the BI semantic model. KPI predictive models were trained and tested with a real-world data set. Finally, a specialized analytical web portal which offers collaborative performance monitoring and decision making is presented. The results show that these models give very accurate KPI projections and provide valuable insights into newly emerging trends, opportunities, and problems. This should lead to more intelligent, predictive, and responsive supply chains capable of adapting to future business environment. PMID:25386605

  9. Carbon sp chains in graphene nanoholes

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Castelli, Ivano E; Ferri, Nicola; Onida, Giovanni; Manini, Nicola

    2012-01-01

    Nowadays sp carbon chains terminated by graphene or graphitic-like carbon are synthesized routinely in several nanotech labs. We propose an ab initio study of such carbon-only materials, by computing their structure and stability, as well as their electronic, vibrational and magnetic properties. We adopt a fair compromise of microscopic realism with a certain level of idealization in the model configurations, and predict a number of properties susceptible to comparison with experiment. (paper)

  10. Carbon sp chains in graphene nanoholes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Castelli, Ivano E.; Ferri, Nicola; Onida, Giovanni; Manini, Nicola

    2012-03-01

    Nowadays sp carbon chains terminated by graphene or graphitic-like carbon are synthesized routinely in several nanotech labs. We propose an ab initio study of such carbon-only materials, by computing their structure and stability, as well as their electronic, vibrational and magnetic properties. We adopt a fair compromise of microscopic realism with a certain level of idealization in the model configurations, and predict a number of properties susceptible to comparison with experiment.

  11. Fluid Mechanics, Drag Reduction and Advanced Configuration Aeronautics

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bushnell, Dennis M.

    2000-01-01

    This paper discusses Advanced Aircraft configurational approaches across the speed range, which are either enabled, or greatly enhanced, by clever Flow Control. Configurations considered include Channel Wings with circulation control for VTOL (but non-hovering) operation with high cruise speed, strut-braced CTOL transports with wingtip engines and extensive ('natural') laminar flow control, a midwing double fuselage CTOL approach utilizing several synergistic methods for drag-due-to-lift reduction, a supersonic strut-braced configuration with order of twice the L/D of current approaches and a very advanced, highly engine flow-path-integrated hypersonic cruise machine. This paper indicates both the promise of synergistic flow control approaches as enablers for 'Revolutions' in aircraft performance and fluid mechanic 'areas of ignorance' which impede their realization and provide 'target-rich' opportunities for Fluids Research.

  12. Motion-insensitive rapid configuration relaxometry.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nguyen, Damien; Bieri, Oliver

    2017-08-01

    Triple echo steady state (TESS) uses the lowest steady state configuration modes for rapid relaxometry. Due to its unbalanced gradient scheme, however, TESS is inherently motion-sensitive. The purpose of this work is to merge TESS with a balanced acquisition scheme for motion-insensitive rapid configuration relaxometry, termed MIRACLE. The lowest order steady state free precession (SSFP) configurations are retrieved by Fourier transformation of the frequency response of N frequency-shifted balanced SSFP (bSSFP) scans and subsequently processed for relaxometry, as proposed with TESS. Accuracy of MIRACLE is evaluated from simulations, phantom studies as well as in vivo brain and cartilage imaging at 3T. Simulations and phantom results revealed no conceptual flaw, and artifact-free configuration imaging was achieved in vivo. Overall, relaxometry results were accurate in phantoms and in good agreement for cartilage and for T2 in the brain, but apparent low T1 values were observed for brain white matter; reflecting asymmetries in the bSSFP profile. Rapid T1 and T2 mapping with MIRACLE offers analogous properties as TESS while successfully mitigating its motion-sensitivity. As a result of the Fourier transformation, relaxometry becomes sensitive to the voxel frequency distribution, which may contain useful physiologic information, such as structural brain integrity. © 2016 International Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine. Magn Reson Med 78:518-526, 2017. © 2016 International Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine. © 2016 International Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine.

  13. Culture impact in construction supply chain management

    OpenAIRE

    Tzortzatou, E. P.

    2008-01-01

    Awareness of cultural differences in construction supply chains is of fundamental importance because only through a thorough understanding of the manifestations of culture can fragmented supply chains be appropriately integrated into cohesive and collaborating teams which enhance project performance Hence the concept of cultural alignment with the project supply chain is introduced in order for long-term collaborative relationships based on trust, co ordination and mutual benefit to be establ...

  14. Mixed-Dimensionality VLSI-Type Configurable Tools for Virtual Prototyping of Biomicrofluidic Devices and Integrated Systems

    Science.gov (United States)

    Makhijani, Vinod B.; Przekwas, Andrzej J.

    2002-10-01

    This report presents results of a DARPA/MTO Composite CAD Project aimed to develop a comprehensive microsystem CAD environment, CFD-ACE+ Multiphysics, for bio and microfluidic devices and complete microsystems. The project began in July 1998, and was a three-year team effort between CFD Research Corporation, California Institute of Technology (CalTech), University of California, Berkeley (UCB), and Tanner Research, with Mr. Don Verlee from Abbott Labs participating as a consultant on the project. The overall objective of this project was to develop, validate and demonstrate several applications of a user-configurable VLSI-type mixed-dimensionality software tool for design of biomicrofluidics devices and integrated systems. The developed tool would provide high fidelity 3-D multiphysics modeling capability, l-D fluidic circuits modeling, and SPICE interface for system level simulations, and mixed-dimensionality design. It would combine tools for layouts and process fabrication, geometric modeling, and automated grid generation, and interfaces to EDA tools (e.g. Cadence) and MCAD tools (e.g. ProE).

  15. Distributions of chain ends and junction points in ordered block copolymers

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Mayes, A.M.; Johnson, R.D.; Russell, T.P.; Smith, S.D.; Satija, S.K.; Majkrzak, C.F.

    1993-01-01

    Chain configurations in ordered symmetric poly(styrene-b-methyl methacrylate) diblock copolymers were examined by neutron reflectively. In a thin-film geometry the copolymers organize into lamellar microdomains oriented parallel to the substrate surface. The copolymers organize into lamellar microdomains oriented parallel to the substrate surface. The copolymers were synthesized with small fractions of deuterated segments at either the chain ends or centers. This selective labeling permitted characterization of the spatial distribution of chain ends and junction points normal to the plane of the film. From the reflectivity analysis, the junction points are found to be confined to the PS/PMMA interfacial regions. The chain ends, however, are well distributed through their respective domains, exhibiting only a weak maximum in concentration at the center of the domains

  16. An Overview of Information Technology Tools Implementation in Supply Chain Management

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mahadi Hasan Miraz

    2016-06-01

    Full Text Available Information Technology (IT and its usage in administrations and across the supply chain has develop a factor of competitive benefit for numerous companies. This paper focuses the practice of IT tools for Supply Chain Management (SCM [10]. It also highlights the impact of IT in helping to rearrange the whole delivery set up to accomplish advanced service levels and lower inventory and lower supply chain charges [10]. An overview and perceptible benefits of the present IT tools that are extensively organized is also providing with focus on current configurations considerations, accessible applications. The role of existing communication technologies in making IT an enabler of SCM is highlighted by addressing a range of dissimilar point and initiative solutions in a diversity of supply chain settings.

  17. New Compounds from Euphorbia helioscopia and Absolute Configuration Determination by Computational Methods

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    He, Jiangbo; Zhu, Hua Jie; Luo, Gui Fen; Li, Yan; Cheng, Yong Xian; Chen, Hao; Chen, Shaopeng; Lu, Xin; Zhou, Guochun; Liu, Guang Ming

    2010-01-01

    The whole plant of Euphorbia helioscopia is an important traditional Chinese medicine. Fom its BuOH soluble extract, one new lactam, three new terpenoids including a new naturally occurring compound, and three known compounds were isolated. Their structures were identified by spectroscopic evidences. In particular, the absolute configurations of side chain of compounds 1 and 2 were determined using computational methods

  18. Issue in Information Sharing of Halal Food Supply Chain

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Masrom Nor Ratna

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available Information sharing serves as an essential approach for the companies and antecedents of supply chain integration. Nowadays, with the highly competitive in halal food market, information sharing has become more conceivable. Furthermore, information sharing in supply chains has become more efficient by having meaningful relationship with the members of halal supply chain. There is a lack information regarding information shared within members in halal food supply chain literature. The information needed in order to shed the light of how companies nowadays can be more competitive. The purpose of this study is to investigate to what extent the information can be shared among the members of the halal food supply chain. This study elaborates the barriers of information sharing leading to enhanced supply chain integration among enterprises, as a result. The interview with four managers from halal certified food manufactures has been deployed to get rich data about the information sharing. The finding shows that most of cases halal certified food manufacturers has low communication with their suppliers. Trust is the key enablers within the members of halal food supply chain.

  19. Configuration Management Program Plan

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    1991-01-01

    Westinghouse Savannah River Company (WSRC) has established a configuration management (CM) plan to execute the SRS CM Policy and the requirements of the DOE Order 4700.1. The Reactor Restart Division (RRD) has developed its CM Plan under the SRS CM Program and is implementing it via the RRD CM Program Plan and the Integrated Action Plan. The purpose of the RRD CM program is to improve those processes which are essential to the safe and efficient operation of SRS production reactors. This document provides details of this plan

  20. Intermodal Supply Chain Risk Management

    OpenAIRE

    Maslarić, Marinko; Brnjac, Nikolina; Bago, Drago

    2016-01-01

    Efficient and secure global supply chains contribute to the Improvement of the competitiveness of the products traded on international markets by reducing their costs and delivery time while increasing the reliability and security. Global supply chains are unthinkable without transport integration, which is usually accomplished through the form of intermodal transport systems. Intermodal transport systems are much more complex than the unimodal ones due to the number of stakeholders, included...

  1. SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT OF IMPORTED FROZEN BEEF: AN ALTERNATIVE TO INTEGRATE WITH LOCAL BEEF SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sani R.

    2017-12-01

    Full Text Available The purpose of this study is to describe the supply chain management of imported frozen beef from Australia to Indonesia; to analyze where the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats for the frozen meat distributor, and what strategy should be chosen; and to analyze alternatives of cooperation between imported frozen beef distribution with local beef distribution chain. The research approach is qualitative, and the research strategy is a case study. This research was conducted in Jakarta, data collecting technique by interview method and literature study. Data analysis techniques use supply chain management (SCM and strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (SWOT analysis. The results show that the distribution chain management of imported frozen beef needs to tripartite cooperation with government and local beef distributors to conduct joint marketing of imported frozen beef and cooler procurement to the point of retailers in traditional markets; expanding the market share of imported frozen beef to industrial segments (hotels, restaurant, catering company; and meat processing factories; and cooperate with imported beef suppliers to overcome the problem of taste flavor and lack of weight of imported frozen meat, and clarify halal certification.

  2. Characterizing Oregon's supply chains.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2013-03-01

    In many regions throughout the world, freight models are used to aid infrastructure investment and : policy decisions. Since freight is such an integral part of efficient supply chains, more realistic : transportation models can be of greater assista...

  3. A Flexible Stretchable Hydrogel Electrolyte for Healable All-in-One Configured Supercapacitors.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Guo, Ying; Zheng, Kaiqiang; Wan, Pengbo

    2018-04-01

    The development of integrated high-performance supercapacitors with all-in-one configuration, excellent flexibility and autonomously intrinsic self-healability, and without the extra healable film layers, is still tremendously challenging. Compared to the sandwich-like laminated structures of supercapacitors with augmented interfacial contact resistance, the flexible healable integrated supercapacitor with all-in-one structure could theoretically improve their interfacial contact resistance and energy densities, simplify the tedious device assembly process, prolong the lifetime, and avoid the displacement and delamination of multilayered configurations under deformations. Herein, a flexible healable all-in-one configured supercapacitor with excellent flexibility and reliable self-healing ability by avoiding the extra healable film substrates and the postassembled sandwich-like laminated structures is developed. The healable all-in-one configured supercapacitor is prepared from in situ polymerization and deposition of nanocomposites electrode materials onto the two-sided faces of the self-healing hydrogel electrolyte separator. The self-healing hydrogel film is obtained from the physically crosslinked hydrogel with enormous hydrogen bonds, which can endow the healable capability through dynamic hydrogen bonding. The assembled all-in-one configured supercapacitor exhibits enhanced capacitive performance, good cycling stability, reliable self-healing capability, and excellent flexibility. It holds broad prospects for obtaining various flexible healable all-in-one configured supercapacitors for working as portable energy storage devices in wearable electronics. © 2018 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

  4. Sustainability governance of chains and networks: a review and future outlook

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Bush, S.R.; Oosterveer, P.J.M.; Bailey, M.L.; Mol, A.P.J.

    2015-01-01

    This paper reviews the extent to which sustainability governance has been integrated into the literature on sustainable chains and networks. The analysis brings together four main approaches to chains and network studies – supply chain management (SCM), global commodity chains (GCC), global value

  5. Superposition of configurations in semiempirical calculation of iron group ion spectra

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kantseryavichyus, A.Yu.; Ramonas, A.A.

    1976-01-01

    The energy spectra of ions from the iron group in the dsup(N), dsup(N)s, dsup(N)p configurations are studied. A semiempirical method is used in which the effective hamiltonian contains configuration superposition. The sdsup(N+1), psup(4)dsup(N+2) quasidegenerated configurations, as well as configurations which differ by one electron are taken as correction configurations. It follows from the calculations that the most important role among the quasidegenerate configurations is played by the sdsup(N+1) correctional configuration. When it is taken into account, the introduction of the psup(4)dsup(N+2) correctional configuration practically does not affect the results. Account of the dsup(N-1)s configuration in the second order of the perturbation theory is equivalent to that of sdsup(N+1) in the sense that it results in the identical mean square deviation. As follows from the comparison of the results of the approximate and complete account of the configuration superposition, in many cases one can be satisfied with its approximate and complete account of the configuration superposition, in many cases one can be satisfied with its approximate version. The results are presented in the form of tables including the values of empirical parameters, radial integrals, mean square errors, etc

  6. Saltwell PIC Skid Programmable Logic Controller (PLC) Software Configuration Management Plan

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    KOCH, M.R.

    1999-01-01

    This document provides the procedures and guidelines necessary for computer software configuration management activities during the operation and maintenance phases of the Saltwell PIC Skids as required by LMH-PRO-309/Rev. 0, Computer Software Quality Assurance, Section 2.6, Software Configuration Management. The software configuration management plan (SCMP) integrates technical and administrative controls to establish and maintain technical consistency among requirements, physical configuration, and documentation for the Saltwell PIC Skid Programmable Logic Controller (PLC) software during the Hanford application, operations and maintenance. This SCMP establishes the Saltwell PIC Skid PLC Software Baseline, status changes to that baseline, and ensures that software meets design and operational requirements and is tested in accordance with their design basis

  7. Global production chains in the fast fashion sector, transports and logistics: the case of the Spanish retailer Inditex

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ana Isabel Escalona Orcao

    2014-01-01

    Full Text Available Recent geographical analyses of global production networks in different economic sectors demonstrate that little attention has been paid to the logistical and transport systems through which networks are fully integrated. This paper on Inditex, a leading firm in the fast fashion sector, addresses this lack of attention and analyses how transport and logistics fit into the production network and provide the firm with one of its most notable competitive advantages. We describe the network of shops and manufacturing, present the principles of the logistical model, and provide details of the procedures applied for the functional and geographical integration of the chain of production of Zara, the best known of the company’s 11 brands. The analysis highlights the growing use of air transport in supplying chains of high-fashion-content products manufactured in distant countries and in the distribution of garments to distant markets. The conclusion of the paper is that logistics and transport strategies must be considered because the geographical configuration of global fashion networks increasingly depends on how rapidly the major fashion retailers are able to meet the needs of time-sensitive customers and the appropriate organisational and logistical strategies they adopt for that purpose.

  8. Supply chain responsibilities and the need for an integrative ethic Management in Emerging Economies

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Lothar Auchter

    2015-03-01

    Full Text Available The economic importance of the Indian Textile and Clothing (T&C industry is unquestioned. It is one of the second largest employment generating industry, after agriculture, with direct employment of over 35 million people. Tamil Nadu accounts for over 65% of the total number spinning units in India and has been reported exploiting young women workers in the spinning and textile units what is called the “Sumangali Scheme”. “Sumangali” in Tamil means ‘happily married woman’. Globalization confronts decision-makers in connection with global conditions in identifying labour standards that can serve as guidelines for corporations producing or outsourcing outside of their home country. The Article shows that in a globalized business world the concept of a conventional corporate ethic system to put all energy into the development of codes of conduct, and ethical audits and sustainability reporting falls short. This applies to industries like the Tamil Nadu textile industry, as there is no clarity with regard to the causal factors and the key players in the supply chain of such a complex social system. The Integrative Social Contract Theory (ISCT allows understanding the problem of Supply-Chain Responsibilities as a contractual relationship that denotes concrete moral responsibilities.

  9. Implementing Environmental Practices for Accomplishing Sustainable Green Supply Chain Management

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Minkyun Kim

    2017-07-01

    Full Text Available With the emergence of environmental protection as a global issue, implementing environmental practices for sustaining green supply chain management (GSCM has received a lot of attention. This study investigates the impact of integration with suppliers and supply disruption risk on environmental practices. It also examines the role of supplier integration and supply disruption risk on performance. Finally, it investigates the relationship between environmental practices and performance in order to sustain green supply chains. Based on 272 survey responses from supply and purchase managers, our research results support the positive impact of integration with suppliers and the negative impact of supply disruption risk on the adoption of environmental practices. Furthermore, they provide empirical evidence that environmental practices and integration with suppliers are positively associated with performance, while supply disruption risk is negatively associated with performance. This study identifies antecedents and establishes a research framework of GSCM. More importantly, it provides meaningful insights to managers regarding the implementation of environmental practices related to other supply chain practices for sustaining green supply chains.

  10. Tank monitor and control system (TMACS) software configuration management plan

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    GLASSCOCK, J.A.

    1999-01-01

    This Software Configuration Management Plan (SCMP) describes the methodology for control of computer software developed and supported by the Systems Development and Integration (SD and I) organization of Lockheed Martin Services, Inc. (LMSI) for the Tank Monitor and Control System (TMACS). This plan controls changes to the software and configuration files used by TMACS. The controlled software includes the Gensym software package, Gensym knowledge base files developed for TMACS, C-language programs used by TMACS, the operating system on the production machine, language compilers, and all Windows NT commands and functions which affect the operating environment. The configuration files controlled include the files downloaded to the Acromag and Westronic field instruments

  11. The su(2 vertical bar 3) dynamic spin chain

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Beisert, Niklas

    2004-01-01

    The complete one-loop, planar dilatation operator of the N=4 superconformal gauge theory was recently derived and shown to be integrable. Here, we present further compelling evidence for a generalisation of this integrable structure to higher orders of the coupling constant. For that we consider the su(2 vertical bar 3) subsector and investigate the restrictions imposed on the spin chain Hamiltonian by the symmetry algebra. This allows us to uniquely fix the energy shifts up to the three-loop level and thus prove the correctness of a conjecture in hep-th/0303060. A novel aspect of this spin chain model is that the higher-loop Hamiltonian, as for N=4 SYM in general, does not preserve the number of spin sites. Yet this dynamic spin chain appears to be integrable

  12. Integrating complexity into data-driven multi-hazard supply chain network strategies

    Science.gov (United States)

    Long, Suzanna K.; Shoberg, Thomas G.; Ramachandran, Varun; Corns, Steven M.; Carlo, Hector J.

    2013-01-01

    Major strategies in the wake of a large-scale disaster have focused on short-term emergency response solutions. Few consider medium-to-long-term restoration strategies that reconnect urban areas to the national supply chain networks (SCN) and their supporting infrastructure. To re-establish this connectivity, the relationships within the SCN must be defined and formulated as a model of a complex adaptive system (CAS). A CAS model is a representation of a system that consists of large numbers of inter-connections, demonstrates non-linear behaviors and emergent properties, and responds to stimulus from its environment. CAS modeling is an effective method of managing complexities associated with SCN restoration after large-scale disasters. In order to populate the data space large data sets are required. Currently access to these data is hampered by proprietary restrictions. The aim of this paper is to identify the data required to build a SCN restoration model, look at the inherent problems associated with these data, and understand the complexity that arises due to integration of these data.

  13. A new approach to e-commerce customs control in China: Integrated supply chain - A practical application towards large-scale data pipeline implementation

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    R. Hu (Rong); Y.H. Tan (Yao Hua); F. Heijmann (Frank)

    2016-01-01

    textabstractDevelopments in e-commerce are presenting new challenges in customs control and China's customs agency is developing a new approach to how it addresses these challenges. China Customs has adopted an integrated supply chain approach to secure international trade lanes and to facilitate

  14. A new approach to e-commerce customs control in China: Integrated supply chain : A practical application towards large-scale data pipeline implementation

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Hu, R.; Tan, Y.; Heijmann, F.

    2016-01-01

    Developments in e-commerce are presenting new challenges in customs control and China's customs agency is developing a new approach to how it addresses these challenges. China Customs has adopted an integrated supply chain approach to secure international trade lanes and to facilitate legitimate

  15. Cognitive poetics and biocultural (configurations of life, cognition and language. Towards a theory of socially integrated science

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Juani Guerra

    2013-07-01

    Full Text Available Based on the biocultural dynamics of Greek poiesis and autopoiesis as evolutionary processes of meaning evaluative (configuration, Cognitive Poetics proposes key methodological adjustments, mainly at the philological, ontological and cultural levels. The aim is to improve our understanding of cognitive and conceptual activity and the social foundations of individual language. From its new status as a fundamental metacognitive theory, it searches for a theory of socially integrated sciences from a new alliance as that discerned in current Cognitive Sciences: from Linguistics or Psychology, through Anthropology, Neurophilosophy or Literary Studies, to Neurobiology or Artificial Life Sciences. From a realist turn to a view of cognition as (social action, it provides new unforeseen accounts of the complex dynamics of human understanding processes studying and analyzing all form of texts as active data

  16. Deep Trek Re-configurable Processor for Data Acquisition (RPDA)

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Bruce Ohme; Michael Johnson

    2009-06-30

    This report summarizes technical progress achieved during the cooperative research agreement between Honeywell and U.S. Department of Energy to develop a high-temperature Re-configurable Processor for Data Acquisition (RPDA). The RPDA development has incorporated multiple high-temperature (225C) electronic components within a compact co-fired ceramic Multi-Chip-Module (MCM) package. This assembly is suitable for use in down-hole oil and gas applications. The RPDA module is programmable to support a wide range of functionality. Specifically this project has demonstrated functional integrity of the RPDA package and internal components, as well as functional integrity of the RPDA configured to operate as a Multi-Channel Data Acquisition Controller. This report reviews the design considerations, electrical hardware design, MCM package design, considerations for manufacturing assembly, test and screening, and results from prototype assembly and characterization testing.

  17. [The role of the practicing veterinarian in the integrated monitoring of the meat production chain].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Brand, A; Wierda, A; van der Valk, P C; Vandenbooren, J C

    1984-04-01

    A more extensive knowledge of the state of health of animals intended for slaughter during the period between birth and transportation to the slaughter-house, is essential to public health, particularly as regards the incidence of zoonoses and administration of drugs. In an integrated system of surveillance of the animal and meat production chain, it will be the duty of the veterinary practitioner to supervise the health of the animals by preventive and curative measures. This system should involve an exchange of information between producer, slaughter-house, veterinarians, those who give guidance on agricultural matters, supervising bodies and research institutes. The stock farmer will keep a record of disease or signs of disease and the use of drugs and submit a health report on delivery of animals to be slaughtered. By herd health programmes, carried out by the veterinary practitioner, optimum health, production and well-being should be achieved. A herd health programme includes objectives, material and methods, evaluation, analysis and advice. On the basis of the results of herd health programmes, the producer of animals intended for slaughter will be able to meet the requirements of the system of surveillance of the animal and meat production chain.

  18. Evolution of Ig- and T-cell receptor gene configuration in a Ph1+ hybrid leukemia patient

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Jensen, Arne Willy; Hokland, Peter; Kristensen, J S

    1992-01-01

    In a longitudinal study of a 32-year-old male with Ph1+ hybrid leukemia we have followed the immunophenotype and configuration of Ig- and TCR genes during the course of different chemotherapy regimens directed first against the myeloid and later against the lymphoid components of the disease. We...... the configuration of the Ig heavy and light chain lambda genes remained constant during the whole period of treatment, that of the Ig light chain kappa gene and TCR beta gene displayed extensive rearrangements after initiation of ALL therapy. Since this patient represents a de novo acute leukemia as evaluated...... identified changes in all parameters, interpretable as an evolution of the malignant clone resulting in a leukemic switch towards a more lymphoid character. Thus, while the expression of the myeloid antigens CD13 and CD33 decreased, that of CD10 (CALLA) and CD20 (B1) increased. Moreover, while...

  19. Evolutional Optimization on Material Ordering and Inventory Control of Supply Chain through Incentive Scheme

    Science.gov (United States)

    Prasertwattana, Kanit; Shimizu, Yoshiaki; Chiadamrong, Navee

    This paper studied the material ordering and inventory control of supply chain systems. The effect of controlling policies is analyzed under three different configurations of the supply chain systems, and the formulated problem has been solved by using an evolutional optimization method known as Differential Evolution (DE). The numerical results show that the coordinating policy with the incentive scheme outperforms the other policies and can improve the performance of the overall system as well as all members under the concept of supply chain management.

  20. Correlation as a Determinant of Configurational Entropy in Supramolecular and Protein Systems

    Science.gov (United States)

    2015-01-01

    For biomolecules in solution, changes in configurational entropy are thought to contribute substantially to the free energies of processes like binding and conformational change. In principle, the configurational entropy can be strongly affected by pairwise and higher-order correlations among conformational degrees of freedom. However, the literature offers mixed perspectives regarding the contributions that changes in correlations make to changes in configurational entropy for such processes. Here we take advantage of powerful techniques for simulation and entropy analysis to carry out rigorous in silico studies of correlation in binding and conformational changes. In particular, we apply information-theoretic expansions of the configurational entropy to well-sampled molecular dynamics simulations of a model host–guest system and the protein bovine pancreatic trypsin inhibitor. The results bear on the interpretation of NMR data, as they indicate that changes in correlation are important determinants of entropy changes for biologically relevant processes and that changes in correlation may either balance or reinforce changes in first-order entropy. The results also highlight the importance of main-chain torsions as contributors to changes in protein configurational entropy. As simulation techniques grow in power, the mathematical techniques used here will offer new opportunities to answer challenging questions about complex molecular systems. PMID:24702693

  1. Experimental discovery of nodal chains

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yan, Qinghui; Liu, Rongjuan; Yan, Zhongbo; Liu, Boyuan; Chen, Hongsheng; Wang, Zhong; Lu, Ling

    2018-05-01

    Three-dimensional Weyl and Dirac nodal points1 have attracted widespread interest across multiple disciplines and in many platforms but allow for few structural variations. In contrast, nodal lines2-4 can have numerous topological configurations in momentum space, forming nodal rings5-9, nodal chains10-15, nodal links16-20 and nodal knots21,22. However, nodal lines are much less explored because of the lack of an ideal experimental realization23-25. For example, in condensed-matter systems, nodal lines are often fragile to spin-orbit coupling, located away from the Fermi level, coexist with energy-degenerate trivial bands or have a degeneracy line that disperses strongly in energy. Here, overcoming all these difficulties, we theoretically predict and experimentally observe nodal chains in a metallic-mesh photonic crystal having frequency-isolated linear band-touching rings chained across the entire Brillouin zone. These nodal chains are protected by mirror symmetry and have a frequency variation of less than 1%. We use angle-resolved transmission measurements to probe the projected bulk dispersion and perform Fourier-transformed field scans to map out the dispersion of the drumhead surface state. Our results establish an ideal nodal-line material for further study of topological line degeneracies with non-trivial connectivity and consequent wave dynamics that are richer than those in Weyl and Dirac materials.

  2. Ising model on tangled chain - 2: Magnetization and susceptibility

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Mejdani, R.

    1993-05-01

    In the preceding paper we have considered an Ising model defined on tangled chain to study the behaviour of the free energy and entropy, particularly in the zero-field and zero-temperature limit. In this paper, following the main line and basing on some results of the previous work, we shall study in the ''language'' of state configurations the behaviour of the magnetization and the susceptibility for different conditions of the model, to understand better the competition between the ferromagnetic bonds along the chain and the antiferromagnetic additional bonds across the chain. Particularly interesting is the behaviour of the susceptibility in the zero-field and zero-temperature limit. Exact solutions for the magnetization and susceptibility, generated by analytical calculations and iterative algorithms, are described. The additional bonds, introduced as a form of perfectly disorder, indicate a particular effect on the spin correlation. We found that the condition J=-J' between the ferromagnetic interaction J along the chain and the antiferromagnetic interaction J' across the chain is somewhat as a ''transition-region'' condition for this behaviour. (author). 16 refs, 14 figs

  3. Virtual Supply Chain Re-Intermediation Through Multi-Agent Systems

    National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

    Nissen, Mark

    2002-01-01

    ... inflexibility associated with EDI applications. Viewing respective procurement and order fulfillment processes of buyer and seller as an integrated whole along the supply chain, we identify opportunities for virtual supply chain re-intermediation...

  4. Markov chain aggregation for agent-based models

    CERN Document Server

    Banisch, Sven

    2016-01-01

    This self-contained text develops a Markov chain approach that makes the rigorous analysis of a class of microscopic models that specify the dynamics of complex systems at the individual level possible. It presents a general framework of aggregation in agent-based and related computational models, one which makes use of lumpability and information theory in order to link the micro and macro levels of observation. The starting point is a microscopic Markov chain description of the dynamical process in complete correspondence with the dynamical behavior of the agent-based model (ABM), which is obtained by considering the set of all possible agent configurations as the state space of a huge Markov chain. An explicit formal representation of a resulting “micro-chain” including microscopic transition rates is derived for a class of models by using the random mapping representation of a Markov process. The type of probability distribution used to implement the stochastic part of the model, which defines the upd...

  5. Gauged Hamiltonians for free particle on surfaces in configuration and phase spaces

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    M Dehghani

    2016-06-01

    Full Text Available We present a method to gauge second class systems consisted of two constraints in the chain structure. In this method we added a momentum counterpart of Wess Zumino coordinate to primary constraint and used the first class condition to find a new and gauged Hamiltonian. Primary constraints were assumed as identities in configuration and phase space and we tried to find general Hamiltonians

  6. Integrated electrification solution for autonomous electrical networks on the basis of RES and energy storage configurations

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kaldellis, J.K.

    2008-01-01

    Most medium and small islands of the Aegean Archipelagos face serious infrastructure problems, strongly related with the limited electrical energy available at extremely high cost. On the other hand, the area is characterized by very high wind speeds and abundant solar energy, thus the exploitation of the available renewable energy sources (RES) may significantly contribute to the fulfillment of the local societies energy demand at minimum environmental and macroeconomic cost. However, the stochastic availability of wind energy and the variable availability of solar energy, the daily and seasonal electricity demand fluctuations, as well as the limited local electrical network capacity result in serious restrictions concerning the maximum renewable power penetration. In this context, the present paper investigates the possibility of creating a combined electricity generation facility based on the exploitation of wind or/and solar potential of an area as well as on the utilization of an appropriate energy storage configuration in order to replace the existing thermal power stations with rational investment requirements. For this purpose, the major parameters of the proposed integrated configuration are firstly calculated and its financial viability is accordingly analyzed. One of the main targets of the proposed solution is to maximize the RES exploitation of the area at a minimum electricity generation cost, while special emphasis is given in order to select the most cost-efficient energy storage device available. According to the results obtained the proposed solution is not only financially attractive but also improves the quality of the electricity offered to the local communities, substituting the expensive and heavily polluting existing thermal power stations

  7. Planning of outsourced operations in pharmaceutical supply chains

    OpenAIRE

    Boulaksil, Y.

    2010-01-01

    In this dissertation, we focus on the planning and control of supply chains where part of the supply chain is outsourced to a contract manufacturer(s). Supply Chain Management deals with the integration of business processes from end-customers through original suppliers that provide products, services and information that add value for customers (Cooper et al., 1997). In a narrow sense, a supply chain can be ‘owned’ by one large company with several sites, often located in different countries...

  8. Fusion chain reaction - a chain reaction with charged particles

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Peres, A.; Shvarts, D.

    1975-01-01

    When a DT-plasma is compressed to very high density, the particles resulting from nuclear reactions give their energy mostly to D and T ions, by nuclear collisions, rather than to electrons as usual. Fusion can thus proceed as a chain reaction, without the need of thermonuclear temperatures. In this paper, we derive relations for the suprathermal ion population created by a fusion reaction. Numerical integration of these equations shows that a chain reaction can proceed in a cold infinite DT-plasma at densities above 8.4x10 27 ions.cm -3 . Seeding the plasma with a small amount of 6 Li reduces the critical density to 7.2x10 27 ions.cm -3 (140000times the normal solid density). (author)

  9. Conceptualizing Embedded Configuration

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Oddsson, Gudmundur Valur; Hvam, Lars; Lysgaard, Ole

    2006-01-01

    and services. The general idea can be named embedded configuration. In this article we intend to conceptualize embedded configuration, what it is and is not. The difference between embedded configuration, sales configuration and embedded software is explained. We will look at what is needed to make embedded...... configuration systems. That will include requirements to product modelling techniques. An example with consumer electronics will illuminate the elements of embedded configuration in settings that most can relate to. The question of where embedded configuration would be relevant is discussed, and the current...

  10. Nonequilibrium spin transport in integrable spin chains: Persistent currents and emergence of magnetic domains

    Science.gov (United States)

    De Luca, Andrea; Collura, Mario; De Nardis, Jacopo

    2017-07-01

    We construct exact steady states of unitary nonequilibrium time evolution in the gapless XXZ spin-1/2 chain where integrability preserves ballistic spin transport at long times. We characterize the quasilocal conserved quantities responsible for this feature and introduce a computationally effective way to evaluate their expectation values on generic matrix product initial states. We employ this approach to reproduce the long-time limit of local observables in all quantum quenches which explicitly break particle-hole or time-reversal symmetry. We focus on a class of initial states supporting persistent spin currents and our predictions remarkably agree with numerical simulations at long times. Furthermore, we propose a protocol for this model where interactions, even when antiferromagnetic, are responsible for the unbounded growth of a macroscopic magnetic domain.

  11. The need for integration in the supply chain of vegetable production

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Deleuran, Lise Christina; Jelsøe, Erling; Boelt, Birte

    2008-01-01

    of quality seed. Quality seed also creates the base for quality products which is of increasing interest for the conscious consumers. In all, varying reasons for looking further into how supply chains function. The supply chain within vegetables is represented by seed producers, seed companies, salad...

  12. Thermal conductivity of the Lennard-Jones chain fluid model.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Galliero, Guillaume; Boned, Christian

    2009-12-01

    Nonequilibrium molecular dynamics simulations have been performed to estimate, analyze, and correlate the thermal conductivity of a fluid composed of short Lennard-Jones chains (up to 16 segments) over a large range of thermodynamic conditions. It is shown that the dilute gas contribution to the thermal conductivity decreases when the chain length increases for a given temperature. In dense states, simulation results indicate that the residual thermal conductivity of the monomer increases strongly with density, but is weakly dependent on the temperature. Compared to the monomer value, it has been noted that the residual thermal conductivity of the chain was slightly decreasing with its length. Using these results, an empirical relation, including a contribution due to the critical enhancement, is proposed to provide an accurate estimation of the thermal conductivity of the Lennard-Jones chain fluid model (up to 16 segments) over the domain 0.8values of the Lennard-Jones chain fluid model merge on the same "universal" curve when plotted as a function of the excess entropy. Furthermore, it is shown that the reduced configurational thermal conductivity of the Lennard-Jones chain fluid model is approximately proportional to the reduced excess entropy for all fluid states and all chain lengths.

  13. Business process modelling in demand-driven agri-food supply chains : a reference framework

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Verdouw, C.N.

    2010-01-01

    Keywords: Business process models; Supply chain management; Information systems; Reference information models; Market orientation; Mass customisation; Configuration; Coordination; Control; SCOR; Pot plants; Fruit industry

    Abstract

    The increasing volatility and diversity of

  14. An Integrated-Empirical Logistics Perspective on Supply Chain Innovation and Firm Performance

    OpenAIRE

    Santanu Mandal

    2015-01-01

    Supply chains need to innovate constantly for maintaining their position in the marketplace and also to fight uncertainties. Hence firms are focusing on strategies for developing supply chain innovation. The current investigation adds to this emerging regime through investigating the influence of logistics capabilities viz. demand management capability, supply management capability, information management capability and coordination capability on supply chain innovation through logistics inte...

  15. Spin chain and duality between string theory and gauge theories

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Gorskij, A.S.

    2005-01-01

    One discusses a string pattern hidden by the integrable spin chains describing the evolution equations in the Yang- Mills theory. It is shown that the single-loop correction to the dilatation operator in N = 4 theory may be expressed in terms of two-point correlation functions at two-dimensional world surface of a string. Correspondence between the Neumann integrable systems and the spin chains leads us to believe that passing to the finite values of the coupling constants in the gauge theory corresponds to the quantization of the world surface. The model of string bits for the digitized world surface is assumed to be in line with representation of the integrable spin chains in terms of the separable variables [ru

  16. Designing a mathematical model for integrating dynamic cellular manufacturing into supply chain system

    Science.gov (United States)

    Aalaei, Amin; Davoudpour, Hamid

    2012-11-01

    This article presents designing a new mathematical model for integrating dynamic cellular manufacturing into supply chain system with an extensive coverage of important manufacturing features consideration of multiple plants location, multi-markets allocation, multi-period planning horizons with demand and part mix variation, machine capacity, and the main constraints are demand of markets satisfaction in each period, machine availability, machine time-capacity, worker assignment, available time of worker, production volume for each plant and the amounts allocated to each market. The aim of the proposed model is to minimize holding and outsourcing costs, inter-cell material handling cost, external transportation cost, procurement & maintenance and overhead cost of machines, setup cost, reconfiguration cost of machines installation and removal, hiring, firing and salary worker costs. Aimed to prove the potential benefits of such a design, presented an example is shown using a proposed model.

  17. ENHANCING LEAN SUPPLY CHAIN MATURITY WITH BUSINESS PROCESS MANAGEMENT

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jurij Jaklic

    2006-12-01

    Full Text Available In today’s global market the main focus of competition is not only between different companies but also between supply chains. Technological changes and organizational improvements are important for effective supply chain management (SCM, however, the main cause of SCM improvements is not the implementation of an information system (IS itself, but rather a change and an integration of business processes. The paper summarizes the most important concepts of SCM and specifically concentrates on the importance of business process management (BPM in supply chains, because full advantages can be realized when business processes in the supply chain are well defined, integrated and managed. The main purpose of this paper is to show that successful SCM calls for the maturity of supply chain processes in all involved companies and at the supply chain level, which can be realized by using effective BPM methods. A necessary condition for growing of SCM in terms of supply chain process maturity levels is an inter-organizational information system development and process renovation. Yet, BPM should not be considered as a one-time project of IS implementation and process change, but as a permanent process performance measurement, analysis and continuous improvement of the supply chain processes. The concepts are illustrated with a case study of fuel supply process.

  18. Rapid transitions between defect configurations in a block copolymer melt.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tsarkova, Larisa; Knoll, Armin; Magerle, Robert

    2006-07-01

    With in situ scanning force microscopy, we image the ordering of cylindrical microdomains in a thin film of a diblock copolymer melt. Tracking the evolution of individual defects reveals elementary steps of defect motion via interfacial undulations and repetitive transitions between distinct defect configurations on a time scale of tens of seconds. The velocity of these transitions suggests a cooperative movement of clusters of chains. The activation energy for the opening/closing of a connection between two cylinders is estimated.

  19. Review of Researches on Agricultural Industry Chain at Home and Abroad

    Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

    Ge; SONG; Taiyan; YANG; Jianhui; LIU

    2014-01-01

    Management of agricultural industry chain is the main form of modern agricultural industrialization. Integration and optimization of agricultural chain have great significance in deepening the reform in the countryside,quickening the development of agricultural modernization and establishing new system of agricultural management. Based on the theory sources and contents of agricultural chain as well as the current researches at home and abroad,this paper hackles and concludes information technology,logistics management and food safety and quality in foreign agricultural chain as well as the organization model,operation mechanism,integration and optimization,promotion and extension,financing and risk prevention,influencing factors as well as performance evaluation in domestic agricultural chain and offers relevant review in order to provide further reference for future researches.

  20. Switching Markov chains for a holistic modeling of SIS unavailability

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Mechri, Walid; Simon, Christophe; BenOthman, Kamel

    2015-01-01

    This paper proposes a holistic approach to model the Safety Instrumented Systems (SIS). The model is based on Switching Markov Chain and integrates several parameters like Common Cause Failure, Imperfect Proof testing, partial proof testing, etc. The basic concepts of Switching Markov Chain applied to reliability analysis are introduced and a model to compute the unavailability for a case study is presented. The proposed Switching Markov Chain allows us to assess the effect of each parameter on the SIS performance. The proposed method ensures the relevance of the results. - Highlights: • A holistic approach to model the unavailability safety systems using Switching Markov chains. • The model integrates several parameters like probability of failure due to the test, the probability of not detecting a failure in a test. • The basic concepts of the Switching Markov Chains are introduced and applied to compute the unavailability for safety systems. • The proposed Switching Markov Chain allows assessing the effect of each parameter on the chemical reactor performance

  1. An approach for formalising the supply chain operations

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zdravković, Milan; Panetto, Hervé; Trajanović, Miroslav; Aubry, Alexis

    2011-11-01

    Reference models play an important role in the knowledge management of the various complex collaboration domains (such as supply chain networks). However, they often show a lack of semantic precision and, they are sometimes incomplete. In this article, we present an approach to overcome semantic inconsistencies and incompleteness of the Supply Chain Operations Reference (SCOR) model and hence improve its usefulness and expand the application domain. First, we describe a literal web ontology language (OWL) specification of SCOR concepts (and related tools) built with the intention to preserve the original approach in the classification of process reference model entities, and hence enable the effectiveness of usage in original contexts. Next, we demonstrate the system for its exploitation, in specific - tools for SCOR framework browsing and rapid supply chain process configuration. Then, we describe the SCOR-Full ontology, its relations with relevant domain ontology and show how it can be exploited for improvement of SCOR ontological framework competence. Finally, we elaborate the potential impact of the presented approach, to interoperability of systems in supply chain networks.

  2. OTEC platform configuration and integration study. Volume I. Systems engineering and integration. Final report

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    None

    1978-04-01

    The economic success of an Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion (OTEC) system is highly dependent on a platform which provides adequate support for the power system, accommodates reliably the cold water pipe, and is most cost effective. The results of a study conducted for the Department of Energy to assess six generic types of platforms to determine the most satisfactory platform for severl potential sites are presented. The six platform configurations are ship, circular barge, semi-submersible, Tuned Sphere, submersible, and spar. These represent directional and symmetric types of platforms which operate on the surface, at the interface, and submerged. The five sites for this study were primarily New Orleans, Keahole Point (Hawaii), Brazil, and secondarily Key West and Puerto Rico. Electrical transmission of energy by submarine cable is the planned form of energy transmission for all sites except Brazil, where chemical conversion is to be the method of transmission. This study is devoted to the platform (or ocean systems) of the OTEC plant which is chiefly comprised of the hull and structure, the seawater system, the position control system, and miscellaneous support/assembly systems. The principal elements in the work breakdown structure for the commercial plants are presented. The assessment of the six platform configurations was conducted utilizing a baseline plan (100-MW(e) (Net)) and site (New Orleans) with variations from the baseline to cover the range of interested platforms and sites.

  3. Modified Li chains as atomic switches

    KAUST Repository

    Wunderlich, Thomas

    2013-09-06

    We present electronic structure and transport calculations for hydrogen and lithium chains, using density functional theory and scattering theory on the Green\\'s function level, to systematically study impurity effects on the transmission coefficient. To this end we address various impurity configurations. Tight-binding results allow us to interpret our the findings. We analyze under which circumstances impurities lead to level splitting and/or can be used to switch between metallic and insulating states. We also address the effects of strongly electronegative impurities.

  4. Supply chain optimization: a practitioner's perspective on the next logistics breakthrough.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schlegel, G L

    2000-08-01

    The objective of this paper is to profile a practitioner's perspective on supply chain optimization and highlight the critical elements of this potential new logistics breakthrough idea. The introduction will briefly describe the existing distribution network, and business environment. This will include operational statistics, manufacturing software, and hardware configurations. The first segment will cover the critical success factors or foundations elements that are prerequisites for success. The second segment will give you a glimpse of a "working game plan" for successful migration to supply chain optimization. The final segment will briefly profile "bottom-line" benefits to be derived from the use of supply chain optimization as a strategy, tactical tool, and competitive advantage.

  5. Sustainable Supply Chain Design in Social Businesses

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Tate, Wendy L.; Bals, Lydia

    2018-01-01

    A significant conceptual and practical challenge for companies is how to integrate triple bottom line (TBL) sustainability into their global supply chains. In supply chain research, the classic economic perspective—the business of business is to be profitable—still dominates, followed by coverage......, how to connect these insights into supply chain design for TBL sustainability has not been studied. Therefore, the purpose of this research was to move the theory of supply chain forward into the sustainable supply chain management (SSCM) research agenda. Toward that purpose, the paper analyzes...... of the environmental dimension; the social dimension is underrepresented. Stakeholders, however, are calling for a TBL perspective that simultaneously includes environmental, social, and economic gains. While there have been recent theoretical advances on how to characterize supply chains in terms of their structure...

  6. The QCD spin chain S matrix

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ahn, Changrim; Nepomechie, Rafael I.; Suzuki, Junji

    2008-01-01

    Beisert et al. have identified an integrable SU(2,2) quantum spin chain which gives the one-loop anomalous dimensions of certain operators in large N c QCD. We derive a set of nonlinear integral equations (NLIEs) for this model, and compute the scattering matrix of the various (in particular, magnon) excitations

  7. Development of Compact Quasi-Axisymmetric Stellarator Reactor Configurations

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ku, L.P.; Zarnstorff, M.; White, R.B.; Cooper, W.A.; Sanchez, R.; Neilson, H.; Schmidt, J.A.

    2003-01-01

    We have started to examine the reactor potential of quasi-axisymmetric (QA) stellarators with an integrated approach that includes systems evaluation, engineering considerations, and plasma and coil optimizations. In this paper, we summarize the progress made so far in developing QA configurations with reduced alpha losses while retaining good MHD stability properties. The minimization of alpha losses is achieved by directly targeting the collisionless orbits to prolong the average resident times. Configurations with an overall energy loss rate of ∼10% or less, including collisional contributions, have been found. To allow remotely maintaining coils and machine components in a reactor environment, there is a desire to simplify to the extent possible the coil design. To this end, finding a configuration that is optimized not only for the alpha confinement and MHD stability but also for the good coil and reactor performance, remains to be a challenging task

  8. A unified thermostat scheme for efficient configurational sampling for classical/quantum canonical ensembles via molecular dynamics

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhang, Zhijun; Liu, Xinzijian; Chen, Zifei; Zheng, Haifeng; Yan, Kangyu; Liu, Jian

    2017-07-01

    We show a unified second-order scheme for constructing simple, robust, and accurate algorithms for typical thermostats for configurational sampling for the canonical ensemble. When Langevin dynamics is used, the scheme leads to the BAOAB algorithm that has been recently investigated. We show that the scheme is also useful for other types of thermostats, such as the Andersen thermostat and Nosé-Hoover chain, regardless of whether the thermostat is deterministic or stochastic. In addition to analytical analysis, two 1-dimensional models and three typical real molecular systems that range from the gas phase, clusters, to the condensed phase are used in numerical examples for demonstration. Accuracy may be increased by an order of magnitude for estimating coordinate-dependent properties in molecular dynamics (when the same time interval is used), irrespective of which type of thermostat is applied. The scheme is especially useful for path integral molecular dynamics because it consistently improves the efficiency for evaluating all thermodynamic properties for any type of thermostat.

  9. Information exchange in global logistics chains : An application for model-based auditing,

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Veenstra, A.W.; Hulstijn, J.; Christiaanse, R.M.J.; Tan, Y.

    2013-01-01

    An integrated data pipeline has been proposed to meet requirements for visibility, supervision and control in global supply chains. How can data integration be used for risk assessment, monitoring and control in global supply chains? We argue that concepts from model-based auditing can be used to

  10. Configurational entropy of hydrogen-disordered ice polymorphs

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Herrero, Carlos P.; Ramírez, Rafael

    2014-01-01

    The configurational entropy of several H-disordered ice polymorphs is calculated by means of a thermodynamic integration along a path between a totally H-disordered state and one fulfilling the Bernal-Fowler ice rules. A Monte Carlo procedure based on a simple energy model is used, so that the employed thermodynamic path drives the system from high temperatures to the low-temperature limit. This method turns out to be precise enough to give reliable values for the configurational entropy s th of different ice phases in the thermodynamic limit (number of molecules N → ∞). The precision of the method is checked for the ice model on a two-dimensional square lattice. Results for the configurational entropy are given for H-disordered arrangements on several polymorphs, including ices Ih, Ic, II, III, IV, V, VI, and XII. The highest and lowest entropy values correspond to ices VI and XII, respectively, with a difference of 3.3% between them. The dependence of the entropy on the ice structures has been rationalized by comparing it with structural parameters of the various polymorphs, such as the mean ring size. A particularly good correlation has been found between the configurational entropy and the connective constant derived from self-avoiding walks on the ice networks

  11. The Integration of Production-Distribution on Newspapers Supply Chain for Cost Minimization using Analytic Models: Case Study

    Science.gov (United States)

    Febriana Aqidawati, Era; Sutopo, Wahyudi; Hisjam, Muh.

    2018-03-01

    Newspapers are products with special characteristics which are perishable, have a shorter range of time between the production and distribution, zero inventory, and decreasing sales value along with increasing in time. Generally, the problem of production and distribution in the paper supply chain is the integration of production planning and distribution to minimize the total cost. The approach used in this article to solve the problem is using an analytical model. In this article, several parameters and constraints have been considered in the calculation of the total cost of the integration of production and distribution of newspapers during the determined time horizon. This model can be used by production and marketing managers as decision support in determining the optimal quantity of production and distribution in order to obtain minimum cost so that company's competitiveness level can be increased.

  12. Developing Customer Responsive Supply Chain Strategy: An Empirical Investigation of the Relationship between Market Segmentation and Supply Chain Strategy

    OpenAIRE

    Godsell, Janet

    2008-01-01

    The concept of the ‘supply chain’, rather than a set of independent functions, has been around for more than 25 years. Despite its theoretical longevity, many organisations still struggle to make the supply chain a reality. The supply chain is an integral part of business strategy and is the means by which customer demand is fulfilled. Alignment between marketing and supply chain strategy is critical to fulfilling customer demand in a cost-effective way. This is the primary obj...

  13. Lean Supply Chain Planning: A Performance Evaluation through Simulation

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Rossini Matteo

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available Nowadays companies look more and more for improving their efficiency to excel in the market. At the same time, the competition has moved from firm level to whole supply chain level. Supply chain are very complex systems and lacks of coordination among their members leads to inefficiency. Supply chain planning task is to improve coordination among supply chain members. Which is the best planning solution to improve efficiency is an open issue. On the other hand, Lean approach is becoming more and more popular among managers. Lean approach is recognize as efficiency engine for production systems, but effects of Lean implementation out of single firm boundaries is not clear. This paper aims at providing a theoretical and practical starting point for Lean implementation in supply chain planning issue. To reach it, a DES simulation model of a three-echelon and multi-product supply chain has been set. Lean management is a very broad topic and this paper focuses on two principles of “pull” and “create the flow”. Kanban system and setup-time and batch-size reductions are implemented in the lean-configured supply chain to apply “pull” and “create the flow” respectively. Lean principles implementations have been analyzed and compared with other supply chain planning policies: EOQ and information sharing (Visibility. Supported by the simulation study, this paper points Lean supply chain planning is a competitive planning policies to increase efficiency.

  14. Decomposition of the configuration-interaction coefficients in the multiconfiguration time-dependent Hartree-Fock method

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Lötstedt, Erik, E-mail: lotstedt@chem.s.u-tokyo.ac.jp; Kato, Tsuyoshi; Yamanouchi, Kaoru [Department of Chemistry, School of Science, The University of Tokyo, 7-3-1 Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-0033 (Japan)

    2016-04-21

    An approximate implementation of the multiconfiguration time-dependent Hartree-Fock method is proposed, in which the matrix of configuration-interaction coefficients is decomposed into a product of matrices of smaller dimension. The applicability of this method in which all the configurations are kept in the expansion of the wave function, while the configuration-interaction coefficients are approximately calculated, is discussed by showing the results on three model systems: a one-dimensional model of a beryllium atom, a one-dimensional model of a carbon atom, and a one-dimensional model of a chain of four hydrogen atoms. The time-dependent electronic dynamics induced by a few-cycle, long-wavelength laser pulse is found to be well described at a lower computational cost compared to the standard multiconfiguration time-dependent Hartree-Fock treatment. Drawbacks of the method are also discussed.

  15. Design of materials configurations for enhanced phononic and electronic properties

    Science.gov (United States)

    Daraio, Chiara

    The discovery of novel nonlinear dynamic and electronic phenomena is presented for the specific cases of granular materials and carbon nanotubes. This research was conducted for designing and constructing optimized macro-, micro- and nano-scale structural configurations of materials, and for studying their phononic and electronic behavior. Variation of composite arrangements of granular elements with different elastic properties in a linear chain-of-sphere, Y-junction or 3-D configurations led to a variety of novel phononic phenomena and interesting physical properties, which can be potentially useful for security, communications, mechanical and biomedical engineering applications. Mechanical and electronic properties of carbon nanotubes with different atomic arrangements and microstructures were also investigated. Electronic properties of Y-junction configured carbon nanotubes exhibit an exciting transistor switch behavior which is not seen in linear configuration nanotubes. Strongly nonlinear materials were designed and fabricated using novel and innovative concepts. Due to their unique strongly nonlinear and anisotropic nature, novel wave phenomena have been discovered. Specifically, violations of Snell's law were detected and a new mechanism of wave interaction with interfaces between NTPCs (Nonlinear Tunable Phononic Crystals) was established. Polymer-based systems were tested for the first time, and the tunability of the solitary waves speed was demonstrated. New materials with transformed signal propagation speed in the manageable range of 10-100 m/s and signal amplitude typical for audible speech have been developed. The enhancing of the mitigation of solitary and shock waves in 1-D chains were demonstrated and a new protective medium was designed for practical applications. 1-D, 2-D and 3-D strongly nonlinear system have been investigated providing a broad impact on the whole area of strongly nonlinear wave dynamics and creating experimental basis for new

  16. Software control and system configuration management - A process that works

    Science.gov (United States)

    Petersen, K. L.; Flores, C., Jr.

    1983-01-01

    A comprehensive software control and system configuration management process for flight-crucial digital control systems of advanced aircraft has been developed and refined to insure efficient flight system development and safe flight operations. Because of the highly complex interactions among the hardware, software, and system elements of state-of-the-art digital flight control system designs, a systems-wide approach to configuration control and management has been used. Specific procedures are implemented to govern discrepancy reporting and reconciliation, software and hardware change control, systems verification and validation testing, and formal documentation requirements. An active and knowledgeable configuration control board reviews and approves all flight system configuration modifications and revalidation tests. This flexible process has proved effective during the development and flight testing of several research aircraft and remotely piloted research vehicles with digital flight control systems that ranged from relatively simple to highly complex, integrated mechanizations.

  17. Software control and system configuration management: A systems-wide approach

    Science.gov (United States)

    Petersen, K. L.; Flores, C., Jr.

    1984-01-01

    A comprehensive software control and system configuration management process for flight-crucial digital control systems of advanced aircraft has been developed and refined to insure efficient flight system development and safe flight operations. Because of the highly complex interactions among the hardware, software, and system elements of state-of-the-art digital flight control system designs, a systems-wide approach to configuration control and management has been used. Specific procedures are implemented to govern discrepancy reporting and reconciliation, software and hardware change control, systems verification and validation testing, and formal documentation requirements. An active and knowledgeable configuration control board reviews and approves all flight system configuration modifications and revalidation tests. This flexible process has proved effective during the development and flight testing of several research aircraft and remotely piloted research vehicles with digital flight control systems that ranged from relatively simple to highly complex, integrated mechanizations.

  18. Tank monitor and control system (TMACS) software configuration management plan; TOPICAL

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    GLASSCOCK, J.A.

    1999-01-01

    This Software Configuration Management Plan (SCMP) describes the methodology for control of computer software developed and supported by the Systems Development and Integration (SD and I) organization of Lockheed Martin Services, Inc. (LMSI) for the Tank Monitor and Control System (TMACS). This plan controls changes to the software and configuration files used by TMACS. The controlled software includes the Gensym software package, Gensym knowledge base files developed for TMACS, C-language programs used by TMACS, the operating system on the production machine, language compilers, and all Windows NT commands and functions which affect the operating environment. The configuration files controlled include the files downloaded to the Acromag and Westronic field instruments

  19. Quality Measurement in the Wood Products Supply Chain

    OpenAIRE

    Espinoza, Omar Alejandro

    2009-01-01

    The purpose of this research is to learn about quality measurement practices in a wood products supply chain. According to the Supply Chain Management paradigm, companies no longer compete as individual entities, but as part of complex networks of suppliers and customers, linked together by flows of materials and information. Evidence suggests that a high degree of integration between supply chain members is essential to achieve superior market and financial performance. This study investigat...

  20. Analytical expression for the correlation function of a hard sphere chain fluid

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chang, Jaeeon; Kim, Hwayong

    A closed form expression is given for the correlation function of flexible hard sphere chain fluid. A set of integral equations obtained from Wertheim's multidensity Ornstein-Zernike integral equation theory with the polymer Percus-Yevick ideal chain approximation is considered. Applying the Laplace transformation method to the integral equations and then solving the resulting equations algebraically, the Laplace transforms of individual correlation functions are obtained. By inverse Laplace transformation the inter- and intramolecular radial distribution functions (RDFs) are obtained in closed forms up to 3D(D is segment diameter). These analytical expressions for the RDFs would be useful in developing the perturbation theory of chain fluids.

  1. AUTOMATING THE CONFIGURATION OF THE CONTROLS SYSTEMS OF THE LHC EXPERIMENTS

    CERN Multimedia

    Calheiros, F; Varela, F

    2007-01-01

    The supervisory layer of the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) experiments is based on the Prozeßvisualisierungs- und Steuerungsystem (PVSS) [1] and the Joint COntrols Project (JCOP) Framework (FW) [2]. This controls framework includes a Finite State Machine (FSM) toolkit, which allows to operate the control systems according to a well-defined set of states and commands. During the FSM transitions of the detectors, it is required to re-configure parts of the control systems. All configuration parameters of the devices integrated into the control system are stored in the so-called configuration database. In this paper the JCOP FW FSM-Configuration database tool is presented. This tool ensures the availability of all required configuration data, for a given type of run of the experiment, in the PVSS sub-detector control applications. The chosen implementation strategy is discussed in the paper. The approach enables the standalone operation of different partitions of the detectors simultaneously while ensuring indepe...

  2. EARLINET Single Calculus Chain - technical - Part 1: Pre-processing of raw lidar data

    Science.gov (United States)

    D'Amico, Giuseppe; Amodeo, Aldo; Mattis, Ina; Freudenthaler, Volker; Pappalardo, Gelsomina

    2016-02-01

    In this paper we describe an automatic tool for the pre-processing of aerosol lidar data called ELPP (EARLINET Lidar Pre-Processor). It is one of two calculus modules of the EARLINET Single Calculus Chain (SCC), the automatic tool for the analysis of EARLINET data. ELPP is an open source module that executes instrumental corrections and data handling of the raw lidar signals, making the lidar data ready to be processed by the optical retrieval algorithms. According to the specific lidar configuration, ELPP automatically performs dead-time correction, atmospheric and electronic background subtraction, gluing of lidar signals, and trigger-delay correction. Moreover, the signal-to-noise ratio of the pre-processed signals can be improved by means of configurable time integration of the raw signals and/or spatial smoothing. ELPP delivers the statistical uncertainties of the final products by means of error propagation or Monte Carlo simulations. During the development of ELPP, particular attention has been payed to make the tool flexible enough to handle all lidar configurations currently used within the EARLINET community. Moreover, it has been designed in a modular way to allow an easy extension to lidar configurations not yet implemented. The primary goal of ELPP is to enable the application of quality-assured procedures in the lidar data analysis starting from the raw lidar data. This provides the added value of full traceability of each delivered lidar product. Several tests have been performed to check the proper functioning of ELPP. The whole SCC has been tested with the same synthetic data sets, which were used for the EARLINET algorithm inter-comparison exercise. ELPP has been successfully employed for the automatic near-real-time pre-processing of the raw lidar data measured during several EARLINET inter-comparison campaigns as well as during intense field campaigns.

  3. Finite-dimensional reductions of the discrete Toda chain

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kazakova, T G

    2004-01-01

    The problem of construction of integrable boundary conditions for the discrete Toda chain is considered. The restricted chains for properly chosen closure conditions are reduced to the well-known discrete Painleve equations dP III , dP V , dP VI . Lax representations for these discrete Painleve equations are found

  4. Research on Knowledge-Oriented Supply ChainRisk Management System Model

    OpenAIRE

    Yingchun Guo

    2011-01-01

    Based on analyzing the characteristics of supply chain risk management under the influences of knowledge, in this paper integrates basic theories and methods of knowledge management into the process of risk management, builds a knowledge-oriented supply chain risk management system model, and proposes relevant strategies, presenting references for practical application of knowledge-oriented supply chain risk management. By means of acquiring, storing, sharing, and transferring supply chain ri...

  5. Results of wind tunnel tests of an ASRM configured 0.03 scale Space Shuttle integrated vehicle model (47-OTS) in the AEDC 16-foot transonic wind tunnel, volume 2

    Science.gov (United States)

    Marroquin, J.; Lemoine, P.

    1992-01-01

    An experimental Aerodynamic and Aero-Acoustic loads data base was obtained at transonic Mach numbers for the Space Shuttle Launch Vehicle configured with the ASRM Solid Rocket Boosters as an increment to the current flight configuration (RSRB). These data were obtained during transonic wind tunnel tests (IA 613A) conducted in the Arnold Engineering Development Center 16-Foot transonic propulsion wind tunnel from March 27, 1991 through April 12, 1991. This test is the first of a series of two tests covering the Mach range from 0.6 to 3.5. Steady state surface static and fluctuating pressure distributions over the Orbiter, External Tank and Solid Rocket Boosters of the Shuttle Integrated Vehicle were measured. Total Orbiter forces, Wing forces and Elevon hinge moments were directly measured as well from force balances. Two configurations of Solid Rocket Boosters were tested, the Redesigned Solid Rocket Booster (RSRB) and the Advanced Solid Rocket Motor (ASRM). The effects of the position (i.e., top, bottom, top and bottom) of the Integrated Electronics Assembly (IEA) box, mounted on the SRB attach ring, were obtained on the ASRM configured model. These data were obtained with and without Solid Plume Simulators which, when used, matched as close as possible the flight derived pressures on the Orbiter and External Tank base. Data were obtained at Mach numbers ranging from 0.6 to 1.55 at a Unit Reynolds Number of 2.5 million per foot through model angles of attack from -8 to +4 degrees at sideslip angles of 0, +4 and -4 degrees.

  6. The XXX spin s quantum chain and the alternating s1, s2 chain with boundaries

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Doikou, Anastasia

    2002-01-01

    The integrable XXX spin s quantum chain and the alternating s 1 , s 2 (s 1 -s 2 =1/2) chain with boundaries are considered. The scattering of their excitations with the boundaries via the Bethe ansatz method is studied, and the exact boundary S matrices are computed in the limit s,s 1,2 →∞. Moreover, the connection of these models with the SU(2) Principal Chiral, WZW and the RSOS models is discussed

  7. MATCHING CONFIGURATIONS PROJECTS OF COOPERATIVE MILK COLLECTION PROJECT ENVIRONMENT

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Анатолій Миколайович ТРИГУБА

    2017-03-01

    Full Text Available The condition analysis of dairy farming is done and the reasons for its degradation are revealed. The need of technologically integrated production systems projects, harvesting, and processing of milk are substantiated. A scientific methodology and the method of project design of milk provision cooperative coordination in the community of the project environment, which are based on systematic-evaluative approach and simulation are proposed. The criterion for the definition of rational parameters of objects configuration for milk provision cooperative projects in the community system is the maximum value of their product. The monetary functioning assessment of the configuration object of cooperative milk provision projects in the community is done. On the basis of the proposed method, we performed the coordination of project configuration of milk provision cooperative with the project environment of territory Zabolotsi community in Brody district of Lviv region.

  8. Developing a Model for Agile Supply: an Empirical Study from Iranian Pharmaceutical Supply Chain

    OpenAIRE

    Rajabzadeh Ghatari, Ali; Mehralian, Gholamhossein; Zarenezhad, Forouzandeh; Rasekh, Hamid Reza

    2013-01-01

    Agility is the fundamental characteristic of a supply chain needed for survival in turbulent markets, where environmental forces create additional uncertainty resulting in higher risk in the supply chain management. In addition, agility helps providing the right product, at the right time to the consumer. The main goal of this research is therefore to promote supplier selection in pharmaceutical industry according to the formative basic factors. Moreover, this paper can configure its supply n...

  9. Way for reducing drug supply chain cost for a hospital district: a case study

    OpenAIRE

    Postacchini, Leonardo; Ciarapica, Filippo Emanuele; Bevilacqua, Maurizio; Mazzuto, Giovanni; Paciarotti, Claudia

    2016-01-01

    Purpose: This work aims at providing insights to optimise healthcare logistic of the drug management, in order to deal with the healthcare expenditure cut. In this paper the effects of different drug supply chain configurations, on the resulting average stock, service level and Bullwhip effect, of the studied supply chain, is quantitatively assessed. Design/methodology/approach: A case study of an Italian district has been studied, taking into account three echelons: suppliers,...

  10. New configurations of a heat recovery absorption heat pump integrated with a natural gas boiler for boiler efficiency improvement

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Qu, Ming; Abdelaziz, Omar; Yin, Hongxi

    2014-01-01

    Highlights: • Thermal and heat transfer models of absorption heat pumps driven by exhaust gas, hot water, or natural gas. • Natural gas boiler combustion model. • Heat exchanger for condensing. • Experimental data of a hot water absorption heat pump. • Economic assessment of heat recovery absorption heat pump for improving natural gas boilers. - Abstract: Conventional natural gas-fired boilers exhaust flue gas direct to the atmosphere at 150–200 °C, which, at such temperatures, contains large amount of energy and results in relatively low thermal efficiency ranging from 70% to 80%. Although condensing boilers for recovering the heat in the flue gas have been developed over the past 40 years, their present market share is still less than 25%. The major reason for this relatively slow acceptance is the limited improvement in the thermal efficiency of condensing boilers. In the condensing boiler, the temperature of the hot water return at the range of 50–60 °C, which is used to cool the flue gas, is very close to the dew point of the water vapor in the flue gas. Therefore, the latent heat, the majority of the waste heat in the flue gas, which is contained in the water vapor, cannot be recovered. This paper presents a new approach to improve boiler thermal efficiency by integrating absorption heat pumps with natural gas boilers for waste heat recovery (HRAHP). Three configurations of HRAHPs are introduced and discussed. The three configurations are modeled in detail to illustrate the significant thermal efficiency improvement they attain. Further, for conceptual proof and validation, an existing hot water-driven absorption chiller is operated as a heat pump at operating conditions similar to one of the devised configurations. An overall system performance and economic analysis are provided for decision-making and as evidence of the potential benefits. These three configurations of HRAHP provide a pathway to achieving realistic high-efficiency natural

  11. Semantic Framework for Social Robot Self-Configuration

    Science.gov (United States)

    Azkune, Gorka; Orduña, Pablo; Laiseca, Xabier; Castillejo, Eduardo; López-de-Ipiña, Diego; Loitxate, Miguel; Azpiazu, Jon

    2013-01-01

    Healthcare environments, as many other real world environments, present many changing and unpredictable situations. In order to use a social robot in such an environment, the robot has to be prepared to deal with all the changing situations. This paper presents a robot self-configuration approach to overcome suitably the commented problems. The approach is based on the integration of a semantic framework, where a reasoner can take decisions about the configuration of robot services and resources. An ontology has been designed to model the robot and the relevant context information. Besides rules are used to encode human knowledge and serve as policies for the reasoner. The approach has been successfully implemented in a mobile robot, which showed to be more capable of solving situations not pre-designed. PMID:23760085

  12. Design of supply chain in fuzzy environment

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rao, Kandukuri Narayana; Subbaiah, Kambagowni Venkata; Singh, Ganja Veera Pratap

    2013-05-01

    Nowadays, customer expectations are increasing and organizations are prone to operate in an uncertain environment. Under this uncertain environment, the ultimate success of the firm depends on its ability to integrate business processes among supply chain partners. Supply chain management emphasizes cross-functional links to improve the competitive strategy of organizations. Now, companies are moving from decoupled decision processes towards more integrated design and control of their components to achieve the strategic fit. In this paper, a new approach is developed to design a multi-echelon, multi-facility, and multi-product supply chain in fuzzy environment. In fuzzy environment, mixed integer programming problem is formulated through fuzzy goal programming in strategic level with supply chain cost and volume flexibility as fuzzy goals. These fuzzy goals are aggregated using minimum operator. In tactical level, continuous review policy for controlling raw material inventories in supplier echelon and controlling finished product inventories in plant as well as distribution center echelon is considered as fuzzy goals. A non-linear programming model is formulated through fuzzy goal programming using minimum operator in the tactical level. The proposed approach is illustrated with a numerical example.

  13. An RFID middleware for supply chain management

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Artur Pinto Carneiro

    2011-12-01

    Full Text Available RFID (Radio Frequency Identification systems for identification and tracking of products and equipments have been progressively adopted as an essential tool for supply chain management, a production environment where the members usually share with each other their own logistic and management systems. Therefore, the development of supply chain RFID systems can be strongly simplified through the inclusion of an intermediate software layer – the middleware – responsible for the creation of interfaces to integrate all the heterogeneous software components. In this article we present a case study developed at IPT (Instituto de Pesquisas Tecnológicas do Estado de São Paulo which gave rise to a middleware prototype able to implement the required software integration on the supply chain of an electric power distribution company. The developed middleware is used to manage the interactions with a heterogeneous group of mobile devices  cell phones, handhelds and data colectors,  operated by different supply chain agents that grab data associated to various processes executed by a given electric power distribution equipment during its life cycle and transfer those data to a central database in order to share them with all the logistic and management corporation systems.

  14. Implementasi Knowledge Management dalam Sistem Supply Chain Agroindustri

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Evi Savitri Iriani

    2017-03-01

    Full Text Available Knowledge Management (KM and supply chain is a new approach used by many companies to create value, increase organizational effectivity and productivity, and competitiveness. However, this concept is still rarely used in agroindustry. The integration of KM and supply chain is very important. A supply chain which applies knowledge managemen system in all the chains will get the final value larger than the total values of all chains, and thus improve competitiveness f the product. The application of KM is initiated by collecting information from supply chain system which were then analysed and shared with all of the components of all chains to support decision making process. A key of success in the implementation of KM is knowledge sharing among components within the system. Another important factor is leadership to support the implementation of KM and colaboration with other parties

  15. Non-Gaussian theory of rubberlike elasticity based on rotational isomeric state simulations of network chain configurations. II. Bimodal poly(dimethylsiloxane) networks

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Curro, J.G.; Mark, J.E.

    1984-01-01

    Bimodal, poly(dimethylsiloxane) (PDMS) networks containing a large mole fraction of very short chains have been shown to be unusually tough elastomers. The purpose of this investigation is to understand the rubber elasticity behavior of these bimodal networks. As a first approach, we have assumed that the average chain deformation is affine. This deformation, however, is partitioned nonaffinely between the long and short chains so that the free energy is minimized. Gaussian statistics are used for the long chains. The distribution function for the short chains is found from Monte Carlo calculations. This model predicts an upturn in the stress-strain curve, the steepness depending on the network composition, as is observed experimentally

  16. Vendor Managed Inventory: A new approach to supply chain management

    OpenAIRE

    Gandhi, Ujval

    2003-01-01

    The Global Supply Chain Forum (Stanford Global Supply Chain Forum Web Resource, http://www.stanford.edu/groups/scforum) defines supply chain management (SCM) as “Supply chain management is the integration of key business processes from end user through original suppliers that provides products, services and information that add value for customer and other stakeholders.” The rapid development of the Internet has dramatically changed the traditional definitions of manufacturer, suppliers and c...

  17. Energy band modulation of graphane by hydrogen-vacancy chains: A first-principles study

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Bi-Ru Wu

    2014-08-01

    Full Text Available We investigated a variety of configurations of hydrogen-vacancy chains in graphane by first-principles density functional calculation. We found that graphane with two zigzag H-vacancy chains segregated by one or more H chain is generally a nonmagnetic conductor or has a negligible band gap. However, the same structure is turned into a semiconductor and generates a magnetic moment if either one or both of the vacancy chains are blocked by isolated H atoms. If H-vacancy chains are continuously distributed, the structure is similar to a zigzag graphene nanoribbon embedded in graphane. It was also found that the embedded zigzag graphene nanoribbon is antiferromagnetic, and isolated H atoms left in the 2-chain nanoribbon can tune the band gap and generate net magnetic moments. Similar effects are also obtained if bare carbon atoms are present outside the nanoribbon. These results are useful for designing graphene-based nanoelectronic circuits.

  18. A New Resilience Measure for Supply Chain Networks

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ruiying Li

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available Currently, supply chain networks can span the whole world, and any disruption of these networks may cause economic losses, decreases in sales and unsustainable supplies. Resilience, the ability of the system to withstand disruption and return to a normal state quickly, has become a new challenge during the supply chain network design. This paper defines a new resilience measure as the ratio of the integral of the normalized system performance within its maximum allowable recovery time after the disruption to the integral of the performance in the normal state. Using the maximum allowable recovery time of the system as the time interval under consideration, this measure allows the resilience of different systems to be compared on the same relative scale, and be used under both scenarios that the system can or cannot restore in the given time. Two specific resilience measures, the resilience based on the amount of product delivered and the resilience based on the average delivery distance, are provided for supply chain networks. To estimate the resilience of a given supply chain network, a resilience simulation method is proposed based on the Monte Carlo method. A four-layered hierarchial mobile phone supply chain network is used to illustrate the resilience quantification process and show how network structure affects the resilience of supply chain networks.

  19. Differential Game Analyses of Logistics Service Supply Chain Coordination by Cost Sharing Contract

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Haifeng Zhao

    2014-01-01

    Full Text Available Cooperation of all the members in a supply chain plays an important role in logistics service. The service integrator can encourage cooperation from service suppliers by sharing their cost during the service, which we assume can increase the sales by accumulating the reputation of the supply chain. A differential game model is established with the logistics service supply chain that consists of one service integrator and one supplier. And we derive the optimal solutions of the Nash equilibrium without cost sharing contract and the Stackelberg equilibrium with the integrator as the leader who partially shares the cost of the efforts of the supplier. The results make the benefits of the cost sharing contract in increasing the profits of both players as well as the whole supply chain explicit, which means that the cost sharing contract is an effective coordination mechanism in the long-term relationship of the members in a logistics service supply chain.

  20. Explaining Governance in Global Value Chains

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Ponte, Stefano; Sturgeon, Timothy

    2014-01-01

    In this article, we review the evolution and current status of global value chain (GVC) governance theory and take some initial steps toward a broader theory of governance through an exercise in ‘modular theory-building’. We focus on two GVC governance theories to which we previously contributed...... additional theories, to connect theories together better or in different modular configurations, and to incorporate elements at the macro level that reflect the changing constellation of key actors in GVC governance – the increasing influence of, for example, NGOs, taste and standard makers, and social...

  1. Saltwell Leak Detector Station Programmable Logic Controller (PLC) Software Configuration Management Plan (SCMP)

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    WHITE, K.A.

    2000-01-01

    This document provides the procedures and guidelines necessary for computer software configuration management activities during the operation and maintenance phases of the Saltwell Leak Detector Stations as required by HNF-PRO-309/Rev.1, Computer Software Quality Assurance, Section 2.4, Software Configuration Management. The software configuration management plan (SCMP) integrates technical and administrative controls to establish and maintain technical consistency among requirements, physical configuration, and documentation for the Saltwell Leak Detector Station Programmable Logic Controller (PLC) software during the Hanford application, operations and maintenance. This SCMP establishes the Saltwell Leak Detector Station PLC Software Baseline, status changes to that baseline, and ensures that software meets design and operational requirements and is tested in accordance with their design basis

  2. Impacts of Power Structure on Sustainable Supply Chain Management

    OpenAIRE

    Zhi Li; Yangyang Xu; Fumin Deng; Xuedong Liang

    2017-01-01

    The present paper examines the manufacturer’s operational decisions, e.g., wholesale price and product sustainability level, the retailer’s operational decision, e.g., retail margin, and supply chain efficiency under three supply chain power structures: manufacturer Stackelberg, Nash and retailer Stackelberg. As a benchmark, we first obtain the equlibrium price and product sustainability level in a vertically integrated supply chain. Our analysis provides some interesting findings in a decent...

  3. A Micro Polymerase Chain Reaction Module for Integrated and Portable DNA Analysis Systems

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Elisa Morganti

    2011-01-01

    Full Text Available This work deals with the design, fabrication, and thermal characterization of a disposable miniaturized Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR module that will be integrated in a portable and fast DNA analysis system. It is composed of two independent parts: a silicon substrate with embedded heater and thermometers and a PDMS (PolyDiMethylSiloxane chamber reactor as disposable element; the contact between the two parts is assured by a mechanical clamping obtained using a Plastic Leaded Chip Carrier (PLCC. This PLCC is also useful, avoid the PCR mix evaporation during the thermal cycles. Finite Element Analysis was used to evaluate the thermal requirements of the device. The thermal behaviour of the device was characterized revealing that the temperature can be controlled with a precision of ±0.5°C. Different concentrations of carbon nanopowder were mixed to the PDMS curing agent in order to increase the PDMS thermal conductivity and so the temperature control accuracy.

  4. Fractional statistics and quantum scaling properties of the integrable Penson-Kolb-Hubbard chain

    Science.gov (United States)

    Vitoriano, Carlindo; Coutinho-Filho, M. D.

    2010-09-01

    We investigate the ground-state and low-temperature properties of the integrable version of the Penson-Kolb-Hubbard chain. The model obeys fractional statistical properties, which give rise to fractional elementary excitations and manifest differently in the four regions of the phase diagram U/t versus n , where U is the Coulomb coupling, t is the correlated hopping amplitude, and n is the particle density. In fact, we can find local pair formation, fractionalization of the average occupation number per orbital k , or U - and n -dependent average electric charge per orbital k . We also study the scaling behavior near the U -driven quantum phase transitions and characterize their universality classes. Finally, it is shown that in the regime of parameters where local pair formation is energetically more favorable, the ground state exhibits power-law superconductivity; we also stress that above half filling the pair-hopping term stabilizes local Cooper pairs in the repulsive- U regime for U

  5. Two-echelon competitive integrated supply chain model with price and credit period dependent demand

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pal, Brojeswar; Sankar Sana, Shib; Chaudhuri, Kripasindhu

    2016-04-01

    This study considers a two-echelon competitive supply chain consisting of two rivaling retailers and one common supplier with trade credit policy. The retailers hope that they can enhance their market demand by offering a credit period to the customers and the supplier also offers a credit period to the retailers. We assume that the market demand of the products of one retailer depends not only on their own market price and offering a credit period to the customers, but also on the market price and offering a credit period of the other retailer. The supplier supplies the product with a common wholesale price and offers the same credit period to the retailers. We study the model under a centralised (integrated) case and a decentralised (Vertical Nash) case and compare them numerically. Finally, we investigate the model by the collected numerical data.

  6. An efficient algorithm to perform local concerted movements of a chain molecule.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Stefano Zamuner

    Full Text Available The devising of efficient concerted rotation moves that modify only selected local portions of chain molecules is a long studied problem. Possible applications range from speeding the uncorrelated sampling of polymeric dense systems to loop reconstruction and structure refinement in protein modeling. Here, we propose and validate, on a few pedagogical examples, a novel numerical strategy that generalizes the notion of concerted rotation. The usage of the Denavit-Hartenberg parameters for chain description allows all possible choices for the subset of degrees of freedom to be modified in the move. They can be arbitrarily distributed along the chain and can be distanced between consecutive monomers as well. The efficiency of the methodology capitalizes on the inherent geometrical structure of the manifold defined by all chain configurations compatible with the fixed degrees of freedom. The chain portion to be moved is first opened along a direction chosen in the tangent space to the manifold, and then closed in the orthogonal space. As a consequence, in Monte Carlo simulations detailed balance is easily enforced without the need of using Jacobian reweighting. Moreover, the relative fluctuations of the degrees of freedom involved in the move can be easily tuned. We show different applications: the manifold of possible configurations is explored in a very efficient way for a protein fragment and for a cyclic molecule; the "local backbone volume", related to the volume spanned by the manifold, reproduces the mobility profile of all-α helical proteins; the refinement of small protein fragments with different secondary structures is addressed. The presented results suggest our methodology as a valuable exploration and sampling tool in the context of bio-molecular simulations.

  7. Major integration issues in evolving the configuration design space for the Aries-Cs compact stellarator power plant

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Raffray, A.R.; Malang, S.; El-Guebaly, L.; Ihli, T.; Najmabadi, F.; Wang, X.

    2006-01-01

    The Aries-Cs study has been launched with the goal of developing through physics and engineering optimization an attractive power plant concept based on a compact stellarator configuration. The first phase of the study involved scoping out different physics configurations including two and three field period options. The engineering effort during that phase aimed at scoping out maintenance schemes and power core designs best suited to a compact stellarator configuration. This led to a down selection of the most attractive blanket configurations and maintenance schemes for more detailed studies during the second phase of the study. This paper summarizes early results from the second phase of the Aries-Cs study with a particular emphasis on the engineering effort

  8. Understanding the supply chain

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Aćimović Slobodan

    2006-01-01

    Full Text Available Supply chain management represents new business philosophy and includes strategically positioned and much wider scope of activity in comparison with its "older brother" - management of logistics. Philosophy of the concept of supply chain is directed to more coordination of key business functions of every link in distribution chain in the process of organization of the flow of both goods and information, while logistic managing instruments are focused on internal optimum of flows of goods and information within one company. Applying the concept of integrated supply chain among several companies makes the importance of operative logistics activity even greater on the level of one company, thus advancing processes of optimum and coordination within and between different companies and confirms the importance of logistics performances for the company’s profitability. Besides the fact that the borders between companies are being deleted, this concept of supply chain in one distribution channel influences increasing of importance of functional, i.e. traditional business managing approaches but instead it points out the importance of process managing approaches. Although the author is aware that "there is nothing harder, more dangerous and with uncertain success, but to find a way for introducing some novelties (Machiavelli, it would be even his additional stimulation for trying to bring closer the concept and goals of supply chain implementation that are identified in key, relevant, modern, theoretical and consulting approaches in order to achieve better understanding of the subject and faster implementation of the concept of supply chain management by domestic companies.

  9. CONFIGURATION GENERATOR MODEL

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Alsaed, A.

    2004-01-01

    ''The Disposal Criticality Analysis Methodology Topical Report'' prescribes an approach to the methodology for performing postclosure criticality analyses within the monitored geologic repository at Yucca Mountain, Nevada. An essential component of the methodology is the ''Configuration Generator Model for In-Package Criticality'' that provides a tool to evaluate the probabilities of degraded configurations achieving a critical state. The configuration generator model is a risk-informed, performance-based process for evaluating the criticality potential of degraded configurations in the monitored geologic repository. The method uses event tree methods to define configuration classes derived from criticality scenarios and to identify configuration class characteristics (parameters, ranges, etc.). The probabilities of achieving the various configuration classes are derived in part from probability density functions for degradation parameters. The NRC has issued ''Safety Evaluation Report for Disposal Criticality Analysis Methodology Topical Report, Revision 0''. That report contained 28 open items that required resolution through additional documentation. Of the 28 open items, numbers 5, 6, 9, 10, 18, and 19 were concerned with a previously proposed software approach to the configuration generator methodology and, in particular, the k eff regression analysis associated with the methodology. However, the use of a k eff regression analysis is not part of the current configuration generator methodology and, thus, the referenced open items are no longer considered applicable and will not be further addressed

  10. Entanglement distribution in star network based on spin chain in diamond

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhu, Yuan-Ming; Ma, Lei

    2018-06-01

    After star network of spins was proposed, generating entanglement directly through spin interactions between distant parties became possible. We propose an architecture which involves coupled spin chains based on nitrogen-vacancy centers and nitrogen defect spins to expand star network. The numerical analysis shows that the maximally achievable entanglement Em exponentially decays with the length of spin chains M and spin noise. The entanglement capability of this configuration under the effect of disorder and spin loss is also studied. Moreover, it is shown that with this kind of architecture, star network of spins is feasible in measurement of magnetic-field gradient.

  11. Heat conduction in diatomic chains with correlated disorder

    Science.gov (United States)

    Savin, Alexander V.; Zolotarevskiy, Vadim; Gendelman, Oleg V.

    2017-01-01

    The paper considers heat transport in diatomic one-dimensional lattices, containing equal amounts of particles with different masses. Ordering of the particles in the chain is governed by single correlation parameter - the probability for two neighboring particles to have the same mass. As this parameter grows from zero to unity, the structure of the chain varies from regular staggering chain to completely random configuration, and then - to very long clusters of particles with equal masses. Therefore, this correlation parameter allows a control of typical cluster size in the chain. In order to explore different regimes of the heat transport, two interatomic potentials are considered. The first one is an infinite potential wall, corresponding to instantaneous elastic collisions between the neighboring particles. In homogeneous chains such interaction leads to an anomalous heat transport. The other one is classical Lennard-Jones interatomic potential, which leads to a normal heat transport. The simulations demonstrate that the correlated disorder of the particle arrangement does not change the convergence properties of the heat conduction coefficient, but essentially modifies its value. For the collision potential, one observes essential growth of the coefficient for fixed chain length as the limit of large homogeneous clusters is approached. The thermal transport in these models remains superdiffusive. In the Lennard-Jones chain the effect of correlation appears to be not monotonous in the limit of low temperatures. This behavior stems from the competition between formation of long clusters mentioned above, and Anderson localization close to the staggering ordered state.

  12. Heat conduction in diatomic chains with correlated disorder

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Savin, Alexander V., E-mail: asavin@center.chph.ras.ru [Semenov Institute of Chemical Physics, Russian Academy of Sciences, 4 Kosygin str., 119991 Moscow (Russian Federation); Zolotarevskiy, Vadim; Gendelman, Oleg V. [Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, Technion – Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa 32000 (Israel)

    2017-01-23

    The paper considers heat transport in diatomic one-dimensional lattices, containing equal amounts of particles with different masses. Ordering of the particles in the chain is governed by single correlation parameter – the probability for two neighboring particles to have the same mass. As this parameter grows from zero to unity, the structure of the chain varies from regular staggering chain to completely random configuration, and then – to very long clusters of particles with equal masses. Therefore, this correlation parameter allows a control of typical cluster size in the chain. In order to explore different regimes of the heat transport, two interatomic potentials are considered. The first one is an infinite potential wall, corresponding to instantaneous elastic collisions between the neighboring particles. In homogeneous chains such interaction leads to an anomalous heat transport. The other one is classical Lennard–Jones interatomic potential, which leads to a normal heat transport. The simulations demonstrate that the correlated disorder of the particle arrangement does not change the convergence properties of the heat conduction coefficient, but essentially modifies its value. For the collision potential, one observes essential growth of the coefficient for fixed chain length as the limit of large homogeneous clusters is approached. The thermal transport in these models remains superdiffusive. In the Lennard–Jones chain the effect of correlation appears to be not monotonous in the limit of low temperatures. This behavior stems from the competition between formation of long clusters mentioned above, and Anderson localization close to the staggering ordered state.

  13. Calculations of configurations of doubly ionized copper (Cu III)

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Sugar, J.; Martin, W.C.

    1976-01-01

    The energy levels belonging to the configurations 3d 7 4s 2 and 3d 8 nl (nl = 4s, 5s, 4p, 5p, 4d, 5d, 4f, and 5g) have been calculated. The radial energy integrals were treated as parameters and adjusted to give a least-squares fit to the observed levels. Two- and three-body effective electrostatic interactions for equivalent electrons were included, as well as two-body effective interactions for inequivalent electrons. Strong configuration interaction between 3d 7 4s 2 and 3d 8 4d was taken into account. Values of the parameters are given for all the above configurations, and the calculated levels are given for all except 3d 8 4s and 3d 8 4p (for which essentially equivalent results have been published). Leading eigenvector percentages are given in appropriate coupling schemes

  14. Automatic creation of simulation configuration. The SIPA workshop: SWORD

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Oudot, G.; Valembois, A.

    1994-01-01

    SWORD (Software Workshop Oriented towards Research and Development) is not only a software management system but also and mainly a software development system. The SWORD workshop is organised in hierarchical levels: (1) the automatic or manual creation of elementary models based on FORTRAN ANSI standard language; these models have interface variables structured in so-called connection points; Automatic model generators are used for the simulation of standard, repeated equipment: HYTHERNET covers the simulation of hydraulic, thermal, chemistry and activity; CONTRONET covers the simulation of I and C system, i.e. logic, protection and control systems; The capture of system topology for both generators is carried out on a graphic workstation under CAD system, (2) The models assembly generator, in charge of linking models (via connection points) and organizing their calling sequence in order to create a simulation application, (3) The configurations in charge of creation of external environment and of links between models assembly and external environment (connection with control desk, plant computer system, safety parameter display etc.), (4) The configuration generator which exports the simulation configuration to the target machine and generates the appropriate command for compilations and link editions; The workshop Administration ensures management, consistency checks are carried out at each step with warnings generated when applicable, and automatic chaining of the appropriate commands according to engineer request are available. (orig.) (4 refs., 4 figs.)

  15. Information Exchange in Global Logistics Chains : An application for Model-based Auditing (abstract)

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Veenstra, A.W.; Hulstijn, J.; Christiaanse, R.; Tan, Y.

    2013-01-01

    An integrated data pipeline has been proposed to meet requirements for supply chain visibility and control. How can data integration be used for risk assessment, monitoring and control in global supply chains? We argue that concepts from model-based auditing can be used to model the ‘ideal’ flow of

  16. An IPC-based Prolog design pattern for integrating backward chaining inference into applications or embedded systems

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Li Guoqi

    2014-12-01

    Full Text Available Prolog is one of the most important candidates to build expert systems and AI-related programs and has potential applications in embedded systems. However, Prolog is not suitable to develop many kinds of components, such as data acquisition and task scheduling, which are also crucial. To make the best use of the advantages and bypass the disadvantages, it is attractive to integrate Prolog with programs developed by other languages. In this paper, an IPC-based method is used to integrate backward chaining inference implemented by Prolog into applications or embedded systems. A Prolog design pattern is derived from the method for reuse, whose principle and definition are provided in detail. Additionally, the design pattern is applied to a target system, which is free software, to verify its feasibility. The detailed implementation of the application is given to clarify the design pattern. The design pattern can be further applied to wide range applications and embedded systems and the method described in this paper can also be adopted for other logic programming languages.

  17. Formal and informal relations within BIM-enabled supply chain partnerships

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Papadonikolaki, E.; Verbraeck, A.; Wamelink, J.W.F.

    2017-01-01

    Supply chain management (SCM) and building information modelling (BIM) are innovations that focus on integration. Recent literature suggests performance benefits from combining these innovations. Within supply chain (SC) partnerships, that use BIM – hereinafter called BIM-enabled SC partnerships

  18. Application of an optimized winglet configuration to an advanced commercial transport

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shollenberger, C. A.

    1979-01-01

    The design is presented of an aircraft which employs an integrated wing and winglet lift system. Comparison was made with a conventional baseline configuration employing a high-aspect-ratio supercritical wing. An optimized wing-winglet combination was selected from four proposed configurations for which aerodynamic, structural, and weight characteristics were evaluated. Each candidate wing-winglet configuration was constrained to the same induced drag coefficient as the baseline aircraft. The selected wing-winglet configuration was resized for a specific medium-range mission requirement, and operating costs were estimated for a typical mission. Study results indicated that the wing-winglet aircraft was lighter and could complete the specified mission at less cost than the conventional wing aircraft. These indications were sensitive to the impact of flutter characteristics and, to a lesser extent, to the performance of the high-lift system. Further study in these areas is recommended to reduce uncertainty in future development.

  19. A Stochastic Model for Improving Information Security in Supply Chain Systems

    OpenAIRE

    Ibrahim Al Kattan; Ahmed Al Nunu; Kassem Saleh

    2009-01-01

    This article presents a probabilistic security model for supply chain management systems (SCM) in which the basic goals of security (including confidentiality, integrity, availability and accountability, CIAA) are modeled and analyzed. Consequently, the weak points in system security are identified. A stochastic model using measurable values to describe the information system security of a SCM is introduced. Information security is a crucial and integral part of the network of supply chains. ...

  20. Algebraic decay in self-similar Markov chains

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hanson, J.D.; Cary, J.R.; Meiss, J.D.

    1985-01-01

    A continuous-time Markov chain is used to model motion in the neighborhood of a critical invariant circle for a Hamiltonian map. States in the infinite chain represent successive rational approximants to the frequency of the invariant circle. For the case of a noble frequency, the chain is self-similar and the nonlinear integral equation for the first passage time distribution is solved exactly. The asymptotic distribution is a power law times a function periodic in the logarithm of the time. For parameters relevant to the critical noble circle, the decay proceeds as t/sup -4.05/

  1. Improving the quality of pork and pork products for the consumer : development of innovative, integrated, and sustainable food production chains of high quality pork products matching consumer demands

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Heimann, B.; Christensen, M.; Rosendal Rasmussen, S.; Bonneau, M.; Grunert, K.G.; Arnau, J.; Trienekens, J.H.; Oksbjerg, N.; Greef, de K.H.; Petersen, B.

    2012-01-01

    Improving the quality of pork and pork products for the consumer: development of innovative, integrated, and sustainable food production chains of high quality pork products matching consumer demands.

  2. A way for reducing drug supply chain cost for a hospital district: A case study

    OpenAIRE

    Leonardo Postacchini; Filippo Emanuele Ciarapica; Maurizio Bevilacqua; Giovanni Mazzuto; Claudia Paciarotti

    2016-01-01

    Purpose: This work aims at providing insights to optimise healthcare logistic of the drug management, in order to deal with the healthcare expenditure cut. In this paper the effects of different drug supply chain configurations, on the resulting average stock, service level and Bullwhip effect, of the studied supply chain, is quantitatively assessed. Design/methodology/approach: A case study of an Italian district has been studied, taking into account three echelons: suppliers, centra...

  3. Kapabilitas Pemasaran dan Operasi Serta Pengaruhnya Pada Supply Chain Management dan Kinerja Perusahaan

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Hadi Purnomo

    2016-06-01

    Full Text Available Competition is a fact that needs to be faced by companies, and competitive advantage is thecore of the company’s success. To face the competition, the accuracy of the strategy undertaken by a company is one of the key success factors of the company. The strategy is to focus on the important factors that affect the performance of the company. In this case, two functions that are key to the creation of value-added are marketing and operations functions. Operations and marketing capabilities are important factors to obtain superior performance. Integration of marketing and operations (operation capabilities, marketing capabilities is believed to be a synergy to achieve the company's competitive advantage.On the other hand, Supply Chain Management (SCM is a key strategic factor to improve the company effectiveness. While an effective supply chain process is based on cross-functional collaboration of the company including operations and marketing capabilities. Thus, the main concern of this study is to focus on the influence of operationand marketing capabilities in supply chain integration and the firm performance, as well as the effect of supply chain integration on the firm performance. The results of this study based on regression analysis show that the regression coefficient of each independent variable on the dependent variable is positive. This means that the marketing and operation capabilities have positive effects on the firm performance, as well as having a positive impact on the supply chain integration. On the other side, the supply chain integration also has a positive effect on the firm performance.

  4. Industry and chain responsibilities and integrative social contract theory

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Wempe, J.F.D.B. (Johan)

    2010-01-01

    This article shows that business ethics is not capable of explaining the responsibility of limited organized collectives such as chains, sectors and industries. The responsibility of the pharmaceutical industry to make AIDSblockers available for patients in Africa is an example of such a sector

  5. Configurational properties of aromatic polyesters with sulfur atoms in their structure

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Riande, E.; Guzman, J.; Roman, J.S.

    1980-01-01

    The dipole moments of poly (thiodiethylene glycol terephthalate) chains were determined as a function of temperature by means of dielectric constant measurements in dioxane. The experimental results were found to be in fair agreement with theoretical results based on a rotational isomeric state model in which the required conformational energies were obtained from previous configurational analysis on poly(ethylene terephthalate), poly(diethylene glycol terephthalate) and poly(thiodiethylene glycol). Since poly(thiodiethylene glycol terephthalate) can be considered an alternating copolymer of ethylene terephthalate and thioethylene units, its configuration-dependent properties were compared with those of poly(ethylene terephthalate) and poly(ethylene sulfide). It was found the flexibility of the copolymer, as expressed by the partition function, intermediate to that of its parent homopolymers. The theoretical results also indicate that the dimensions of poly(thiodiethylene glycol) are similar to those of poly(ethylene terephthalate) while its dipole moment ratio resembles that of poly

  6. Logistics integration processes in the food industry

    OpenAIRE

    Giménez, Cristina

    2003-01-01

    This paper analyses the integration process that firms follow to implement Supply Chain Management (SCM). This study has been inspired in the integration model proposed by Stevens (1989). He suggests that companies internally integrate first and then extend integration to other supply chain members, such as customers and suppliers. To analyse the integration process a survey was conducted among Spanish food manufacturers. The results show that there are companies in three different integratio...

  7. Value chain envy : explaining new entry and vertical integration in popular music

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Mol, Joeri M.; Wijnberg, Nachoem M.

    2002-01-01

    The desirability of establishing a value chain at a particular stage in a value system can be considered to depend on the relation between the value that can be created and the value that can be captured at that particular stage. Value chain envy motivates firms to invade the more desirable stages

  8. Optimization of Consignment-Store-Based Supply Chain with Black Hole Algorithm

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ágota Bányai

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available The globalization of economy and market led to increased networking in the field of manufacturing and services. These manufacturing and service processes including supply chain became more and more complex. The supply chain includes in many cases consignment stores. The design and operation of these complex supply chain processes can be described as NP-hard optimization problems. These problems can be solved using sophisticated models and methods based on metaheuristic algorithms. This research proposes an integrated supply model based on consignment stores. After a careful literature review, this paper introduces a mathematical model to formulate the problem of consignment-store-based supply chain optimization. The integrated model includes facility location and assignment problems to be solved. Next, an enhanced black hole algorithm dealing with multiobjective supply chain model is presented. The sensitivity analysis of the heuristic black hole optimization method is also described to check the efficiency of new operators to increase the convergence of the algorithm. Numerical results with different datasets demonstrate how the proposed model supports the efficiency, flexibility, and reliability of the consignment-store-based supply chain.

  9. On a path integral description of the dynamics of an inextensible chain and its connection to constrained stochastic dynamics

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ferrari, Franco; Paturej, Jaroslaw

    2009-01-01

    The dynamics of a freely jointed chain in the continuous limit is described by a field theory which closely resembles the nonlinear sigma model. The generating functional Ψ[J] of this field theory contains nonholonomic constraints, which are imposed by inserting in the path integral expressing Ψ[J] a suitable product of delta functions. The same procedure is commonly applied in statistical mechanics in order to enforce topological conditions on a system of linked polymers. The disadvantage of this method is that the contact with the stochastic process governing the diffusion of the chain is apparently lost. The main goal of this work is to re-establish this contact. For this purpose, it is shown here that the generating functional Ψ[J] coincides with the generating functional of the correlation functions of the solutions of a constrained Langevin equation. In the discrete case, this Langevin equation describes as expected the Brownian motion of beads connected together by links of fixed length

  10. A spatially explicit whole-system model of the lignocellulosic bioethanol supply chain: an assessment of decentralised processing potential

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Shah Nilay

    2008-07-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Lignocellulosic bioethanol technologies exhibit significant capacity for performance improvement across the supply chain through the development of high-yielding energy crops, integrated pretreatment, hydrolysis and fermentation technologies and the application of dedicated ethanol pipelines. The impact of such developments on cost-optimal plant location, scale and process composition within multiple plant infrastructures is poorly understood. A combined production and logistics model has been developed to investigate cost-optimal system configurations for a range of technological, system scale, biomass supply and ethanol demand distribution scenarios specific to European agricultural land and population densities. Results Ethanol production costs for current technologies decrease significantly from $0.71 to $0.58 per litre with increasing economies of scale, up to a maximum single-plant capacity of 550 × 106 l year-1. The development of high-yielding energy crops and consolidated bio-processing realises significant cost reductions, with production costs ranging from $0.33 to $0.36 per litre. Increased feedstock yields result in systems of eight fully integrated plants operating within a 500 × 500 km2 region, each producing between 1.24 and 2.38 × 109 l year-1 of pure ethanol. A limited potential for distributed processing and centralised purification systems is identified, requiring developments in modular, ambient pretreatment and fermentation technologies and the pipeline transport of pure ethanol. Conclusion The conceptual and mathematical modelling framework developed provides a valuable tool for the assessment and optimisation of the lignocellulosic bioethanol supply chain. In particular, it can provide insight into the optimal configuration of multiple plant systems. This information is invaluable in ensuring (near-cost-optimal strategic development within the sector at the regional and national scale. The framework

  11. Martingales and Markov chains solved exercises and elements of theory

    CERN Document Server

    Baldi, Paolo; Priouret, Pierre

    2002-01-01

    CONDITIONAL EXPECTATIONSIntroductionDefinition and First PropertiesConditional Expectations and Conditional LawsExercisesSolutionsSTOCHASTIC PROCESSESGeneral FactsStopping TimesExercisesSolutionsMARTINGALESFirst DefinitionsFirst PropertiesThe Stopping TheoremMaximal InequalitiesSquare Integral MartingalesConvergence TheoremsRegular MartingalesExercisesProblemsSolutionsMARKOV CHAINSTransition Matrices, Markov ChainsConstruction and ExistenceComputations on the Canonical ChainPotential OperatorsPassage ProblemsRecurrence, TransienceRecurrent Irreducible ChainsPeriodicityExercisesProblemsSolution

  12. Retaining rooted operations capabilities in footloose supply networks – the system cluster configuration

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Søberg, Peder Veng; Wæhrens, Brian Vejrum

    2014-01-01

    Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) customers feel a need to realize the benefits of outsourcing, while maintaining the development force, which can easily be lost, if too much is outsourced. The paper illustrates the innovative value chain configuration “system cluster”, in which suppliers and...... and subcontractors (2. Tier suppliers) get more responsibility and influence, while the OEM customers get the benefits of outsourcing without losing development force. Barriers to reap these benefits are outlined....

  13. The Effect of Various Parameters of Solution Methodology on a Flexible Integrated Supply Chain Model

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Elham Behmanesh

    2018-01-01

    Full Text Available A successful supply chain must be able to operate at the lowest cost while providing the best customer service as well as environmental protection. As industrial players are under pressure but mostly unprepared to take back products after their usage, logistics network design becomes an even more important issue. To allow for a maximum of flexibility and efficiency, we consider an integrated design of the forward/reverse logistics network using full delivery graph. We apply a Memetic Algorithm with a novel population generation to find a near optimal solution for large size problems. The effect of different parameters on the behavior of the proposed Metaheuristic Algorithm is investigated. Using the experimental work to find the best parameters for this problem is the outlook of these researches.

  14. An open-chain imaginary-time path-integral sampling approach to the calculation of approximate symmetrized quantum time correlation functions

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cendagorta, Joseph R.; Bačić, Zlatko; Tuckerman, Mark E.

    2018-03-01

    We introduce a scheme for approximating quantum time correlation functions numerically within the Feynman path integral formulation. Starting with the symmetrized version of the correlation function expressed as a discretized path integral, we introduce a change of integration variables often used in the derivation of trajectory-based semiclassical methods. In particular, we transform to sum and difference variables between forward and backward complex-time propagation paths. Once the transformation is performed, the potential energy is expanded in powers of the difference variables, which allows us to perform the integrals over these variables analytically. The manner in which this procedure is carried out results in an open-chain path integral (in the remaining sum variables) with a modified potential that is evaluated using imaginary-time path-integral sampling rather than requiring the generation of a large ensemble of trajectories. Consequently, any number of path integral sampling schemes can be employed to compute the remaining path integral, including Monte Carlo, path-integral molecular dynamics, or enhanced path-integral molecular dynamics. We believe that this approach constitutes a different perspective in semiclassical-type approximations to quantum time correlation functions. Importantly, we argue that our approximation can be systematically improved within a cumulant expansion formalism. We test this approximation on a set of one-dimensional problems that are commonly used to benchmark approximate quantum dynamical schemes. We show that the method is at least as accurate as the popular ring-polymer molecular dynamics technique and linearized semiclassical initial value representation for correlation functions of linear operators in most of these examples and improves the accuracy of correlation functions of nonlinear operators.

  15. An open-chain imaginary-time path-integral sampling approach to the calculation of approximate symmetrized quantum time correlation functions.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cendagorta, Joseph R; Bačić, Zlatko; Tuckerman, Mark E

    2018-03-14

    We introduce a scheme for approximating quantum time correlation functions numerically within the Feynman path integral formulation. Starting with the symmetrized version of the correlation function expressed as a discretized path integral, we introduce a change of integration variables often used in the derivation of trajectory-based semiclassical methods. In particular, we transform to sum and difference variables between forward and backward complex-time propagation paths. Once the transformation is performed, the potential energy is expanded in powers of the difference variables, which allows us to perform the integrals over these variables analytically. The manner in which this procedure is carried out results in an open-chain path integral (in the remaining sum variables) with a modified potential that is evaluated using imaginary-time path-integral sampling rather than requiring the generation of a large ensemble of trajectories. Consequently, any number of path integral sampling schemes can be employed to compute the remaining path integral, including Monte Carlo, path-integral molecular dynamics, or enhanced path-integral molecular dynamics. We believe that this approach constitutes a different perspective in semiclassical-type approximations to quantum time correlation functions. Importantly, we argue that our approximation can be systematically improved within a cumulant expansion formalism. We test this approximation on a set of one-dimensional problems that are commonly used to benchmark approximate quantum dynamical schemes. We show that the method is at least as accurate as the popular ring-polymer molecular dynamics technique and linearized semiclassical initial value representation for correlation functions of linear operators in most of these examples and improves the accuracy of correlation functions of nonlinear operators.

  16. Onset of pseudo-thermal equilibrium within configurations and super-configurations

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Busquet, Michel

    2006-01-01

    Level populations within a configuration and configuration populations within super-configuration or within one ion are shown to follow a Boltzmann law at some effective temperature different from the actual electron temperature (as it would be when Griem criterion is valid). Origin of this pseudo-thermal equilibrium is discussed and basis of a model are presented

  17. Onset of pseudo-thermal equilibrium within configurations and super-configurations

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Busquet, Michel [ARTEP Inc., 2922 Excelsior Springs Court, Elicott City, MD 21042 (United States)]. E-mail: busquet@this.nrl.navy.mil

    2006-05-15

    Level populations within a configuration and configuration populations within super-configuration or within one ion are shown to follow a Boltzmann law at some effective temperature different from the actual electron temperature (as it would be when Griem criterion is valid). Origin of this pseudo-thermal equilibrium is discussed and basis of a model are presented.

  18. SCRL-Model for Human Space Flight Operations Enterprise Supply Chain

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tucker, Brian; Paxton, Joseph

    2010-01-01

    This paper will present a Supply Chain Readiness Level (SCRL) model that can be used to evaluate and configure adaptable and sustainable program and mission supply chains at an enterprise level. It will also show that using SCRL in conjunction with Technology Readiness Levels (TRLs), Manufacturing Readiness Levels (MRLs) and National Aeronautics Space Administrations (NASA s) Project Lifecycle Process will provide a more complete means of developing and evaluating a robust sustainable supply chain that encompasses the entire product, system and mission lifecycle. In addition, it will be shown that by implementing the SCRL model, NASA can additionally define supplier requirements to enable effective supply chain management (SCM). Developing and evaluating overall supply chain readiness for any product, system and mission lifecycle is critical for mission success. Readiness levels are presently being used to evaluate the maturity of technology and manufacturing capability during development and deployment phases of products and systems. For example, TRLs are used to support the assessment of the maturity of a particular technology and compare maturity of different types of technologies. MRLs are designed to assess the maturity and risk of a given technology from a manufacturing perspective. In addition, when these measurement systems are used collectively they can offer a more comprehensive view of the maturity of the system. While some aspects of the supply chain and supply chain planning are considered in these familiar metric systems, certain characteristics of an effective supply chain, when evaluated in more detail, will provide an improved insight into the readiness and risk throughout the supply chain. Therefore, a system that concentrates particularly on supply chain attributes is required to better assess enterprise supply chain readiness.

  19. Tinjauan Konseptual: Criteria Suplier-Selection, Integrasi Internal dan Eksternal Supply Chain terhadap Kinerja Perusahaan

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Endar Pituringsih

    2010-08-01

    Full Text Available Performance measurement reflects the company capability to prepare for the customer desired standard while it considers lower production and maintenance costs, higher product quality, reduced stock in process, deprived material processing cost, and shorter delivery deadline. Meanwhile, Supply Chain Management (SCM has important meaning to empower consumer in maximizing customer value. Supply Chain Management (SCM requires: internal integration (intra-organization and external integration (inter-organization. Primary key of Supply Chain Management (SCM will be having supplier as partner in the company strategy and satisfying the always changing market demand. Therefore, a selection among company strategy options in the global competition really produces a model of dominant integration, coordination, and cooperation in controlling global market, precisely through supply chain as important element to contribute to company performance improvement.

  20. The benefits of ITER for the portfolio of fusion configurations

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Goldston, R.J.

    2002-01-01

    Recent plasma science challenges are 1) what limits the pressure in plasmas? (macroscopic stability), 2) how do hot particles and plasma waves interact in the non-linear regime? (wave-particle interactions), 3) what causes plasma transport? (microscopic turbulence and transport) and 4) how can high-temperature plasma and material surface co-exist? (plasma-material interactions). This fusion plasma science is addressed using a 'Portfolio' of configurations, like Stellarator, Tokamak, Spherical Torus, Reversed Field Pinch, Spheromak, and Field Reversed Configuration. Namely, the scientific results from one configuration benefit progress in others. Recent example of this effort can be found in NCSX, NSTX and RFP. ITER will provide very significant benefits to the development of the full fusion portfolio; macroscopic stability, wave-particle interactions, microturbulence and transport, plasma-material interactions, and technical demonstration of an integrated fusion system. (author)