Relaciones y capacidades interorganizativas: un enfoque de Supply Chain Management (SCM) en red

El presente trabajo mide, en un contexto colaborativo, un conjunto de mecanismos relacionales interconectados y su incidencia en el performance organizacional. Apoyado en la Visión Relacional (Dyer y Singh, 1998), el trabajo integra mecanismos de las capacidades relacionales y capacidades competitivas en el concepto denominado ¿capacidades interorganizativas¿. Las capacidades interorganizativas se componen de la ¿confianza¿ y los mecanismos ¿combinar recursos complementarios¿, ¿invertir en activos específicos¿, ¿compartir información¿ y ¿solucionar problemas conjuntamente¿. La medición tiene lugar en la Industria Alimentaria (IA) española en un contexto de Supply Chain Management1 en red. Además de mejorar el conocimiento sobre las relaciones interorganizativas, el trabajo también realiza una revisión teórica sobre el sector agroalimentario en general y la IA en particular. Los resultados permiten confirmar, con excepciones, el constructo teórico de las ¿capacidades interorganizativas en un contexto de Supply Chain Management en red¿. Otros resultados obtenidos son los altos niveles de confianza en las relaciones entre socios y una industria que, pese al entorno competitivo y complejo actual, presenta niveles competitivos en términos de flexibilidad, respuesta, calidad y eficiencia. De igual modo, la investigación descubre la implantación de la capacidad de las empresas de la industria para gestionar el conocimiento. En este contexto, los resultados parecen indicar una correcta integración de la cadena de suministros de la IA que confirman la efectiva aplicación de la Supply Chain Management. Otras conclusiones obtenidas son la dependencia que ha tenido y tiene la industria alimentaria española de la distribución, intensificada en parte por la expansión de las marcas del distribuidor (MDDs).

Management accounting and supply chains: actions, concerns, and networks

What does this thesis do? This thesis uses Actor-Network Theory (ANT) to examine how a UK retailer’s organization and strategy, and, in turn, its form of management accounting was shaped by its supply chain. The thesis does this by reporting on four related themes in the form of four inter-connected essays. The first essay undertakes a state-of-the-art review of the literature. It examines how accounting issues within supply chains permeate ‘matters of concern’. In accordance with this idea of ANT, the essay illustrates how issues emerged, controversies developed, and matters evolved through an actor-network of accounting researchers within the supply chain domain. This leads on to the second essay, which exemplifies the nature of the UK’s retailing industry within which the supply chain case organization emerged and developed. The purposes of the essay are twofold: to introduce the contextual ramifications of the case organization; and to illustrate the emergence of a new market logic, which led to the creation of a global supply chain and a new form of management accounting therein. The third essay reports on a qualitative case study. It analyses the dualistic relation between ostensive and performative aspects of supply chain strategy, reveals how accounting numbers act as an obligatory passage point within this dualism, and makes a contribution to the ANT debate around the issue of whether and how a dualism between ostensive and performative aspects exists. The final essay reports on another case analysis of institutionalizing a heterarchical form of management accounting: a distributed form of intelligence that penetrates through lateral accountable relations. The analysis reveals a new form of management accounting characterised by ambiguity; it emphasizes the possibilities of compromises and negotiations, and it thus contributes to knowledge by combining an aspect of ANT with heterarchical tendencies in the world of contemporary organizations. Finally, the thesis concludes that it is the supply chain that organises today’s neoliberal capitalism; and it is management accounting that unites both human and non-human actors within such supply chains, despite that form of management accounting being ambiguous. The thesis comprises the introduction, these four essays, and the conclusion.

Tourism demand modelling and forecasting with artificial neural network models: the Mozambique case study

This study is aimed to model and forecast the tourism demand for Mozambique for the period from January 2004 to December 2013 using artificial neural networks models. The number of overnight stays in Hotels was used as representative of the tourism demand. A set of independent variables were experimented in the input of the model, namely: Consumer Price Index, Gross Domestic Product and Exchange Rates, of the outbound tourism markets, South Africa, United State of America, Mozambique, Portugal and the United Kingdom. The best model achieved has 6.5% for Mean Absolute Percentage Error and 0.696 for Pearson correlation coefficient. A model like this with high accuracy of forecast is important for the economic agents to know the future growth of this activity sector, as it is important for stakeholders to provide products, services and infrastructures and for the hotels establishments to adequate its level of capacity to the tourism demand.

Developing strategies to mitigate the energy consumed by network infrastructures

The energy consumption by ICT (Information and Communication Technology) equipment is rapidly increasing which causes a significant economic and environmental problem. At present, the network infrastructure is becoming a large portion of the energy footprint in ICT. Thus the concept of energy efficient or green networking has been introduced. Now one of the main concerns of network industry is to minimize energy consumption of network infrastructure because of the potential economic benefits, ethical responsibility, and its environmental impact. In this paper, the energy management strategies to reduce the energy consumed by network switches in LAN (Local Area Network) have been developed. According to the lifecycle assessment of network switches, during usage phase, the highest amount of energy consumed. The study considers bandwidth, link load and traffic matrixes as input parameters which have the highest contribution in energy footprint of network switches during usage phase and energy consumption as output. Then with the objective of reducing energy usage of network infrastructure, the feasibility of putting Ethernet switches hibernate or sleep mode was investigated. After that, the network topology was reorganized using clustering method based on the spectral approach for putting network switches to hibernate or switched off mode considering the time and communications among them. Experimental results show the interest of this approach in terms of energy consumption

Energy Management of a Battery-Ultracapacitor Hybrid Energy Storage System in Electric Vehicles

Electric vehicle (EV) batteries tend to have accelerated degradation due to high peak power and harsh charging/discharging cycles during acceleration and deceleration periods, particularly in urban driving conditions. An oversized energy storage system (ESS) can meet the high power demands; however, it suffers from increased size, volume and cost. In order to reduce the overall ESS size and extend battery cycle life, a battery-ultracapacitor (UC) hybrid energy storage system (HESS) has been considered as an alternative solution. In this work, we investigate the optimized configuration, design, and energy management of a battery-UC HESS. One of the major challenges in a HESS is to design an energy management controller for real-time implementation that can yield good power split performance. We present the methodologies and solutions to this problem in a battery-UC HESS with a DC-DC converter interfacing with the UC and the battery. In particular, a multi-objective optimization problem is formulated to optimize the power split in order to prolong the battery lifetime and to reduce the HESS power losses. This optimization problem is numerically solved for standard drive cycle datasets using Dynamic Programming (DP). Trained using the DP optimal results, an effective real-time implementation of the optimal power split is realized based on Neural Network (NN). This proposed online energy management controller is applied to a midsize EV model with a 360V/34kWh battery pack and a 270V/203Wh UC pack. The proposed online energy management controller effectively splits the load demand with high power efficiency and also effectively reduces the battery peak current. More importantly, a 38V-385Wh battery and a 16V-2.06Wh UC HESS hardware prototype and a real-time experiment platform has been developed. The real-time experiment results have successfully validated the real-time implementation feasibility and effectiveness of the real-time controller design for the battery-UC HESS. A battery State-of-Health (SoH) estimation model is developed as a performance metric to evaluate the battery cycle life extension effect. It is estimated that the proposed online energy management controller can extend the battery cycle life by over 60%.

Model predictive control applied to a supply chain management problem

Supply chains are ubiquitous in any commercial delivery systems. The exchange of goods and services, from different supply points to distinct destinations scattered along a given geographical area, requires the management of stocks and vehicles fleets in order to minimize costs while maintaining good quality services. Even if the operating conditions remain constant over a given time horizon, managing a supply chain is a very complex task. Its complexity increases exponentially with both the number of network nodes and the dynamical operational changes. Moreover, the management system must be adaptive in order to easily cope with several disturbances such as machinery and vehicles breakdowns or changes in demand. This work proposes the use of a model predictive control paradigm in order to tackle the above referred issues. The obtained simulation results suggest that this strategy promotes an easy tasks rescheduling in case of disturbances or anticipated changes in operating conditions. © Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2017

The joint European Research Infrastructure Network for Coastal Observatories: Achievements and Strategy for the Future

This document is summarizing a major part of the work performed by the FP7-JERICO consortium, including 27 partner institutions, during 4 years (2011-2015). Its objective is to propose a strategy for the European coastal observation and monitoring. To do so we give an overview of the main achievements of the FP7-JERICO project. From this overview, gaps are analysed to draw some recommendations for the future. Overview, gaps and recommendation are addressed at both Hardware and Software levels of the JERICO Research Infrastructure. The main part of the document is built upon this analysis to outcome a general strategy for the future, giving priorities to be targeted and some possible funding mechanisms, but also upon discussions held in dedicated JERICO strategy workshops. This document was initiated in 2014 by the coordination team but considering the fact that an overview of the entire project and its achievement were needed to feed this strategy deliverable it couldn’t ended before the end of FP7-JERICO, April 2015. The preparation of the JERICO-NEXT proposal in summer 2014 to answer an H2020 call for proposals pushed the consortium ahead, fed deep thoughts about this strategy but the intention was to not propose a strategy only bounded by the JERICO-NEXT answer. Authors are conscious that writing JERICO-NEXT is even drawing a bias in the thoughts and they tried to be opened. Nevertheless, comments are always welcome to go farther ahead. Structure of the document The Chapter 3 introduces the need of sustained coastal observatories, from different point of view including a short description of the FP7-JERICO project. In Chapter 4, an analysis of the JERICO coastal observatory Hardware (platforms and sensors) in terms of Status at the end of JERICO, identified gaps and recommendations for further development is provided region by region. The main challenges that remain to be overcome is also summarized. Chapter 5 is dedicated the JERICO infrastructure Software (calibration, operation, quality assessment, data management) and the progress made through JERICO on harmonization of procedures and definition of best practices. Chapter 6 provides elements of a strategy towards sustainable and integrated coastal observations for Europe, drawing a roadmap for cost-effective scientific-based consolidation of the present infrastructure while maximizing the potential arising from JERICO in terms of innovation, wealth-creation, and business development. After reading the chapter 3, for who doesn’t know JERICO, any chapter can be read independently. More details are available in the JERICO final reports and its intermediate reports; all are available on the JERICO web site (www.jerico-FP7.eu) as well as any deliverable. Each chapter will list referring JERICO documents. A small bibliographic list is available at the end of this deliverable.

A Performance Management Framework for Managing Sustainable Collaborative Enterprise Networks

Part 15: Performance Management Frameworks

Strategic Context, Organizational Features and Network Performances: A Survey on Collaborative Networked Organizations of Italian SMEs

Part 15: Performance Management Frameworks

Collaborative Systems in Crisis Management: A Proposal for a Conceptual Framework

Part 11: Reference and Conceptual Models

The intellectual structure of research in hospitality management: A literature review using bibliometric methods of the journal International Journal of Hospitality Management

The purpose of this study is to analyze the existing literature on hospitality management from all the research papers published in The International Journal of Hospitality Management (IJHM) between 2008 and 2014. The authors apply bibliometric methods – in particular, author citation and co-citation analyses (ACA) – to identify the main research lines within this scientific field; in other words, its ‘intellectual structure’. Social network analysis (SNA) is also used to perform a visualization of this structure. The results of the analysis allow us to define the different research lines or fronts which shape the intellectual structure of research on hospitality management.

The usefulness of the distress thermometer in the management of cancer patients: a mixed methods approach

Objective: The aim of this study was to investigate the usefulness of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) Distress Thermometer and Problem List in identifying distress levels and psychosocial concerns over the cancer trajectory using a mixed-methods approach.
Method: Eighty-five cancer patients from the Barwon South West region of Victoria participated in this study by completing the NCCN Distress Thermometer and Problem List over three time periods. Three case studies were also conducted to add a qualitative dimension.
Results: Emotional concerns decreased as psychological distress levels decreased and a high level of physical concerns were consistent with a high level of psychological distress. Cancer patients’ narrative accounts also supported
the usefulness of the NCCN Distress Thermometer and Problem List as a screening tool.
Conclusions: Findings are discussed with reference to implications for psychological/emotional support of cancer patients, the provision of supportive care services and directions for future research.

Diagnosing autism: Australian paediatric research network surveys

AIM: Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder with reported prevalence of more than 1/100. In Australia, paediatricians are often involved in diagnosing ASD and providing long-term management. However, it is not known how paediatricians diagnose ASD. This study aimed to investigate whether the way Australian paediatricians diagnose ASD is in line with current recommendations. METHODS: Members of the Australian Paediatric Research Network were invited to answer questions about their ASD diagnostic practice in a multi-topic survey and also as part of a study about parents needs around the time of a diagnosis of ASD. RESULTS: The majority of the 124 paediatricians who responded to the multi-topic survey and most who responded to the parent needs survey reported taking more than one session to make a diagnosis of ASD. Most paediatricians included information from preschool, child care or school when making a diagnosis, and over half included information from speech pathology or psychology colleagues more than 50% of the time. The main reasons for not including assessment information in the diagnostic process were service barriers such as no regular service available or long waiting lists. More than 70% reported ordering audiology and genetic tests more than half of the time. CONCLUSION: Not all paediatricians are following current recommendations for diagnosing ASD more than 50% of the time. While there are good reasons why current diagnostic approaches may fall short of expected standards, these need to be overcome to ensure diagnostic validity and optimal services for all children and their families.

Frontier technologies of trust computing and network security

The increasing complexity of computer systems and communication networks induces tremendous requirements for trust and security. This special issue includes topics on trusted computing, risk and reputation management, network security and survivable computer systems/networks. These issues have evolved into an active and important area of research and development. The past decade has witnessed a proliferation of concurrency and computation systems for practice of highly trust, security and privacy, which has become a key subject in determining future research and development activities in many academic and industrial branches. This special issue aims to present and discuss advances of current research and development in all aspects of trusted computing and network security. In addition, this special issue provides snapshots of contemporary academia work in the field of network trusted computing. We prepared and organized this special issue to record state-of-the-art research, novel development and trends for future insight in this domain. In this special issue, 14 papers have been accepted for publication, which demonstrate novel and original work in this field. A detailed overview of the selected works is given below.

Agent-based reactive power management of power distribution networks with distributed energy generation

In this paper, a new agent-based distributed reactive power management scheme is proposed to improve the voltage stability of energy distribution systems with distributed generation units. Three types of agents – distribution system agent, estimator agent, and control agent are developed within the multi-agent framework. The agents simultaneously coordinated their activities through the online information and energy flow. The overall achievement of the proposed scheme depends on the coordination between two tasks – (i) estimation of reactive power using voltage variation formula and (ii) necessary control actions to provide the estimated reactive power to the distribution networks through the distributed static synchronous compensators. A linear quadratic regulator with a proportional integrator is designed for the control agent in order to control the reactive component of the current and the DC voltage of the compensators. The performance of the proposed scheme is tested on a 10-bus power distribution network under various scenarios. The effectiveness is validated by comparing the proposed approach to the conventional proportional integral control approach. It is found that, the agent-based scheme provides excellent robust performance under various operating conditions of the power distribution network.