Supply chain integration:challenges and solutions

Since its introduction by management consultants in the early 1980s, supply chain management (SCM) has been primarily concerned with the integration of processes and activities both within and between organisations. The concept of supply chain integration (SCI) is based on documented evidence that suggests that much of the waste throughout businesses is a consequence of fragmented supply chain configurations. However, there is also evidence to suggest that the achievement of higher levels of intra- and inter-firm integration presents an array of managerial challenges. The need for innovation in all aspects of SCM is widely recognised. Given the pivotal role of the integration paradigm within SCM, any meaningful innovation in this area must focus heavily on this issue. This chapter outlines some of the challenges by exploring the evolving SCM business context. It goes on to relate SCM theory to the widely cited Porter value chain concept. The core of the chapter provides a detailed description of SCI based on a wide variety of literature. It does so with particular reference to the challenges inherent in implementing an integrated business paradigm with a view to identifying a range of possible innovative solutions. The adoption of more integrated supply chain structures raises questions regarding the nature of both internal and external customer/supplier relationships. The effective management of such relationships is, therefore, given particular focus.

Singular Solutions of Protter’s Problem for a Class of 3-D Hyperbolic Equations

Недю Иванов Попиванов, Алексей Йорданов Николов - През 1952 г. М. Протър формулира нови гранични задачи за вълновото уравнение, които са тримерни аналози на задачите на Дарбу в равнината. Задачите са разгледани в тримерна област, ограничена от две характеристични конуса и равнина. Сега, след като са минали повече от 50 години, е добре известно, че за безброй гладки функции в дясната страна на уравнението тези задачи нямат класически решения, а обобщеното решение има силна степенна особеност във върха на характеристичния конус, която е изолирана и не се разпространява по конуса. Тук ние разглеждаме трета гранична задача за вълновото уравнение с младши членове и дясна страна във формата на тригонометричен полином. Дадена е по-нова от досега известната априорна оценка за максимално възможната особеност на решенията на тази задача. Оказва се, че при по-общото уравнение с младши членове възможната сингулярност е от същия ред като при чисто вълновото уравнение.

Internal instability as a possible failure mechanism for layered composites

Funding Financial support of part of this research by The Royal Society, The Royal Society of Edinburgh, The Royal Academy of Engineering and The Carnegie Trust for the Universities of Scotland is gratefully acknowledged.

Nerve localization techniques for peripheral nerve block and possible future directions

Ultrasound guidance is now a standard nerve localization technique for peripheral nerve block (PNB). Ultrasonography allows simultaneous visualization of the target nerve, needle, local anesthetic injectate and surrounding anatomical structures. Accurate deposition of local anesthetic next to the nerve is essential to the success of the nerve block procedure. Unfortunately, due to limitations in the visibility of both needle tip and nerve surface, the precise relationship between needle tip and target nerve is unknown at the moment of injection. Importantly, nerve injury may result both from an inappropriately placed needle tip and inappropriately placed local anesthetic. The relationship between the block needle tip and target nerve is of paramount importance to the safe conduct of peripheral nerve block. This review summarizes the evolution of nerve localization in regional anesthesia, characterizes a problem faced by clinicians in performing ultrasound guided nerve block and explores the potential technological solutions to this problem.

Efficient Security and Privacy Enhancing Solutions in Untrusted Environments

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Washington, 2016-08

Chitosan scaffold as an alternative adsorbent for the removal of hazardous food dyes from aqueous solutions

Hypothesis: The dye adsorption with chitosan is considered an eco-friendly alternative technology in relation to the existing water treatment technologies. However, the application of chitosan for dyes removal is limited, due to its low surface area and porosity. Then we prepared a chitosan scaffold with a megaporous structure as an alternative adsorbent to remove food dyes from solutions. Experiments: The chitosan scaffold was characterized by infrared spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy and structural characteristics. The potential of chitosan scaffold to remove five food dyes from solutions was investigated by equilibrium isotherms and thermodynamic study. The scaffold–dyes interactions were elucidated, and desorption studies were carried out. Findings: The chitosan scaffold presented pore sizes from 50 to 200 lm, porosity of 92.2 ± 1.2% and specific surface area of 1135 ± 2 m2 g 1. The two-step Langmuir model was suitable to represent the equilibrium data. The adsorption was spontaneous, favorable, exothermic and enthalpy-controlled process. Electrostatic interactions occurred between chitosan scaffold and dyes. Desorption was possible with NaOH solution (0.10 mol L 1). The chitosan megaporous scaffold showed good structural characteristics and high adsorption capacities (788–3316 mg g 1).

Multiple solutions and numerical analysis to the dynamic and stationary models coupling a delayed energy balance model involving latent heat and discontinuous albedo with a deep ocean

We study a climatologically important interaction of two of the main components of the geophysical system by adding an energy balance model for the averaged atmospheric temperature as dynamic boundary condition to a diagnostic ocean model having an additional spatial dimension. In this work, we give deeper insight than previous papers in the literature, mainly with respect to the 1990 pioneering model by Watts and Morantine. We are taking into consideration the latent heat for the two phase ocean as well as a possible delayed term. Non-uniqueness for the initial boundary value problem, uniqueness under a non-degeneracy condition and the existence of multiple stationary solutions are proved here. These multiplicity results suggest that an S-shaped bifurcation diagram should be expected to occur in this class of models generalizing previous energy balance models. The numerical method applied to the model is based on a finite volume scheme with nonlinear weighted essentially non-oscillatory reconstruction and Runge–Kutta total variation diminishing for time integration.

Exact solutions for the agricultural and the two-dimensional packing problems

Objectives and study method: The objective of this study is to develop exact algorithms that can be used as management tools for the agricultural production planning and to obtain exact solutions for two of the most well known twodimensional packing problems: the strip packing problem and the bin packing problem. For the agricultural production planning problem we propose a new hierarchical scheme of three stages to improve the current agricultural practices. The objective of the first stage is to delineate rectangular and homogeneous management zones into the farmer’s plots considering the physical and chemical soil properties. This is an important task because the soil properties directly affect the agricultural production planning. The methodology for this stage is based on a new method called “Positions and Covering” that first generates all the possible positions in which the plot can be delineated. Then, we use a mathematical model of linear programming to obtain the optimal physical and chemical management zone delineation of the plot. In the second stage the objective is to determine the optimal crop pattern that maximizes the farmer’s profit taken into account the previous management zones delineation. In this case, the crop pattern is affected by both management zones delineation, physical and chemical. A mixed integer linear programming is used to solve this stage. The objective of the last stage is to determine in real-time the amount of water to irrigate in each crop. This stage takes as input the solution of the crop planning stage, the atmospheric conditions (temperature, radiation, etc.), the humidity level in plots, and the physical management zones of plots, just to name a few. This procedure is made in real-time during each irrigation period. A linear programming is used to solve this problem. A breakthrough happen when we realize that we could propose some adaptations of the P&C methodology to obtain optimal solutions for the two-dimensional packing problem and the strip packing. We empirically show that our methodologies are efficient on instances based on real data for both problems: agricultural and two-dimensional packing problems. Contributions and conclusions: The exact algorithms showed in this study can be used in the making-decision support for agricultural planning and twodimensional packing problems. For the agricultural planning problem, we show that the implementation of the new hierarchical approach can improve the farmer profit between 5.27% until 8.21% through the optimization of the natural resources. An important characteristic of this problem is that the soil properties (physical and chemical) and the real-time factors (climate, humidity level, evapotranspiration, etc.) are incorporated. With respect to the two-dimensional packing problems, one of the main contributions of this study is the fact that we have demonstrate that many of the best solutions founded in literature by others approaches (heuristics approaches) are the optimal solutions. This is very important because some of these solutions were up to now not guarantee to be the optimal solutions.

Robust solutions of bi-blend recipe optimization with quadratic constraints

Production companies use raw materials to compose end-products. They often make different products with the same raw materials. In this research, the focus lies on the production of two end-products consisting of (partly) the same raw materials as cheap as possible. Each of the products has its own demand and quality requirements consisting of quadratic constraints. The minimization of the costs, given the quadratic constraints is a global optimization problem, which can be difficult because of possible local optima. Therefore, the multi modal character of the (bi-) blend problem is investigated. Standard optimization packages (solvers) in Matlab and GAMS were tested on their ability to solve the problem. In total 20 test cases were generated and taken from literature to test solvers on their effectiveness and efficiency to solve the problem. The research also gives insight in adjusting the quadratic constraints of the problem in order to make a robust problem formulation of the bi-blend problem.

The role of additive manufacturing in patient specific solutions

This dissertation investigates de role of the new additive manufacturing techniques in the treatment of pathologies with a patient-specific approach. Throughout this work the development methodology of these said products is explained in order to understand the different stages required to achieve a tailor made solution. The goal is to demonstrate the importance of the manufacturing technique and its capabilities to tailor-fit devices to patients and the adaptability of the process to tackle the most diverse situations. Three real cases are documented in order to prove the viability of the method and to showcase its advantages. Whenever possible patient-specific solutions are compared to their “off-the-shelf” counterparts in order to establish the pros and cons of each one of them. The dissertation is an insight into a possible future for the medical devices industry, where customization is expected to be the standard approach in the treatment of patients.