A framework for enabling dynamic e-business strategies via new enterprise paradigms and ERP solutions

Hardcover: 498 pages Publisher: Idea Group,U.S. (15 July 2012) Language: English ISBN-10: 1466616199

Medication -related adverse events in older people with dementia:causes and possible solutions

This submission for a PhD by previously published work is based upon six publications in peer reviewed journals, reflecting a 9-year research programme. My research has shown, in a coherent and original way, the difficulty in treating people with dementia with safe and effective medication whilst providing research-founded guidance to develop mechanisms to optimise medication choice and minimise iatrogenic events. A wide range of methods, including systematic reviews, meta-analysis, randomised controlled trials (RCTs), quantitative research and mixed methods were used to generate the data, which supported the exploration of three themes. The first theme, to understand the incidence and causes of medication errors in dementia services, identified that people with dementia may be more susceptible to medication-related iatrogenic disease partly due to inherent disease-related characteristics. One particular area of concern is the use of anti-psychotics to treat the Behavioural and Psychological Symptoms of Dementia (BPSD). The second and third themes, respectively, investigated a novel pharmacological and health services intervention to limit anti-psychotic usage. The second phase found that whilst the glutamate receptor blocker memantine showed some promise, further research was clearly required. The third phase found that anti-psychotic usage in dementia may be higher than official figures suggest and that medication review linking primary and secondary care can limit such usage. My work has been widely cited, reflecting a substantial contribution to the field, in terms of our understanding of the causes of, and possible solutions to limit, medication-related adverse events in people with dementia. More importantly, this work has already informed clinical practice, patients, carers and policy makers by its demonstrable impact on health policy. In particular my research has identified key lines of enquiry for future work and for the development of my own personal research programme to reduce the risk associated with medication in this vulnerable population.

Challenges and emerging solutions in the development of compressed orally disintegrating tablets

Areas covered: The review discusses the main challenges of ODT manufacturing process and the emerging solutions featured at early drug development stages. The research specifically describes the methods reported for taste masking/assessment and solubilisation of unpalatable and poorly soluble drugs, respectively. Furthermore, this review highlights the techniques used for developing modified-release ODTs, an emerging area in the field. In addition, it also discusses the poor flowability and segregation problems of directly compressed powders. Moreover, the review describes the tests reported in the literature for ODT disintegration time assessment since a universal technique is still non-existent. Expert opinion: The approaches used to overcome the manufacturing challenges often have a bearing on the price of the end product. However, despite the technical and regulatory challenges, ODTs can offer many advantages over the conventional dosage forms if accompanied by suitable adjuvant technologies and in vitro analytical tools. © 2014 Informa UK, Ltd. Introduction: Orally disintegrating tablets (ODTs) provide several advantages over conventional tablets such as suitability for patients with swallowing difficulties and faster onset of action. The manufacture of ODTs by compression/tableting offers a practical and cost-effective strategy over the freeze drying (lyophilisation) method. Nonetheless, the FDA recommends a disintegration time of 30 s and a maximum weight of 500 mg for a tablet to be labelled as an ODT. These requirements, alongside other desirable product properties, have created a number of challenges for the formulator to overcome while developing compressed ODTs.

Integral Manifolds and Bounded Solutions of Singularly Perturbed Systems of Impulsive Differential Equations

Sufficient conditions for the existence of bounded solutions of singularly perturbed impulsive differential equations are obtained. For this purpose integral manifolds are used.

Binomial Skew Polynomial Rings, Artin-Schelter Regularity, and Binomial Solutions of the Yang-Baxter Equation

2000 Mathematics Subject Classification: Primary 81R50, 16W50, 16S36, 16S37.

Some Inequalities of the Uniform Ergodicity and Strong Stability of Homogeneous Markov Chains

2000 Mathematics Subject Classification: 60J45, 60K25

Sub- and Super-solutions of a Nonlinear PDE, and Application to a Semilinear SPDE

2010 Mathematics Subject Classification: 35R60, 60H15, 74H35.

Optical data transmission with fluctuating frequency offset and strong phase noise

We examine data transmission during the interval immediately after wavelength switching of a tunable laser and, through simulation, we demonstrate how choice of modulation format can improve the efficacy of an optical burst/packet switched network. © 2013 Optical Society of America.

A framework for enabling dynamic e-business strategies via new enterprise paradigms and ERP solutions

In the global Internet economy, e-business as a driving force to redefine business models and operational processes is posing new challenges for traditional organizational structures and information system (IS) architectures. These are showing promises of a renewed period of innovative thinking in e-business strategies with new enterprise paradigms and different Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems. In this chapter, the authors consider and investigate how dynamic e-business strategies, as the next evolutionary generation of e-business, can be realized through newly diverse enterprise structures supported by ERP, ERPII and so-called "ERPIII" solutions relying on the virtual value chain concept. Exploratory inductive multi-case studies in manufacturing and printing industries have been conducted. Additionally, it proposes a conceptual framework to discuss the adoption and governance of ERP systems within the context of three enterprise forms for enabling dynamic and collaborative e-business strategies, and particularly demonstrate how an enterprise can dynamically migrate from its current position to the patterns it desires to occupy in the future - a migration that must and will include dynamic e-business as a core competency, but that also relies heavily on ERP-based backbone and other robust technological platform and applications.

Weak and Semi Compatible Maps in Probabilistic Metric Space Using Implicit Relation

2000 Mathematics Subject Classification: 54H25, 47H10.

Technological challenges of pediatric MEG and potential solutions:the Aston experience

Magnetoencephalography (MEG) offers significant opportunities for the localization and characterization of focal and generalized epilepsies, but its potential has so far not been fully exploited, as the evidence for its effectiveness is still anecdotal. This is particularly true for pediatric epilepsy. MEG recordings on school-age children typically rely on the use of MEG systems that were designed for adults and children's smaller head-size and stature can cause significant problems. Reduced signal-to-noise ratio when recording from smaller heads, increased movement, reduced sensor coverage of anterior temporal regions and incomplete insertion into the MEG helmet can all reduce the quality of data collected from children. We summarize these challenges and suggest some practical solutions.

Szervezeti karriergondozás a nők előmenetelének szolgálatában: Sikeres európai uniós és hazai megoldások (Organizational career development in the career chance of women: successful European and Hungarian solutions)

A szerző tanulmányában a női karrierpálya és a szervezeti karriergondozás sajátosságait mutatja be. A női munkaerő sajátos munkaerő. Sajátosságait a társadalmi munkamegosztásban elfoglalt helye, szerepe, az ebből is táplálkozó férfiakétól eltérő személyisége, motivációja, habitusa, munkahellyel és munkakörrel kapcsolatos elvárásai alkotják. A hatékony emberierőforrás-menedzsment célja, hogy a rendelkezésre álló munkaerő-potenciált, kompetenciatárat minél jobban kihasználja. Ezért hasznosítja a sokszínűségből fakadó szinergiahatást, és számol a különböző alkalmazotti rétegek eltérő adottságaival. _____________________ The career needs of women demands special requirements towards organizational career development which covers the whole process of the human resource management. It is necessary to take attention to the elimination of all forms of discrimination in the organization, to develop an objective selection process based on competences, to eliminate barriers of advancement, to contact and inform women during the paid child-care period, to provide new ways to balance career and family, to extend the mentor system, to aid the preparation of individual career plans, to extend the different forms of flexible employment, to eliminate the wage and income differences. In Hungary the lack of women-friendly social environment and organizational culture prevent the development of diversity management, the fulfilling of the special mission and tasks of female career development. These circumstances waste the human resources in social and organizational level, too. It results the insufficient utilization of the competences of skilled workforce, especially that of women.

Properties of risk capital allocation methods: Core Compatibility, Equal Treatment Property and Strong Monotonicity

In finance risk capital allocation raises important questions both from theoretical and practical points of view. How to share risk of a portfolio among its subportfolios? How to reserve capital in order to hedge existing risk and how to assign this to different business units? We use an axiomatic approach to examine risk capital allocation, that is we call for fundamental properties of the methods. Our starting point is Csóka and Pintér (2011) who show by generalizing Young (1985)'s axiomatization of the Shapley value that the requirements of Core Compatibility, Equal Treatment Property and Strong Monotonicity are irreconcilable given that risk is quantified by a coherent measure of risk. In this paper we look at these requirements using analytic and simulations tools. We examine allocation methods used in practice and also ones which are theoretically interesting. Our main result is that the problem raised by Csóka and Pintér (2011) is indeed relevant in practical applications, that is it is not only a theoretical problem. We also believe that through the characterizations of the examined methods our paper can serve as a useful guide for practitioners.

Sustainability Challenges of Phosphorus and Food: Solutions from Closing the Human Phosphorus Cycle

The Green Revolution has led to a threefold growth in food production in the last 50 to 75 years, but increases in crop production have required a concurrent increase in the use of inorganic phosphorus as fertilizer. A sustainable phosphorus supply is not assured, though, and food production depends on mineral phosphorus supplies that are nonrenewable and are being depleted. Phosphorus is effectively a nonsubstitutable necessity for all life. Because mineral phosphorus deposits are not distributed evenly, future phosphorus scarcity may have national security implications. Some projections show economically viable mineral reserves becoming depleted within a few decades. Phosphorus-induced food shortages are therefore a possibility, particularly in developing countries where farmers are more vulnerable to volatile fertilizer prices. Sustainable solutions to such future challenges exist, and involve closing the loop on the human phosphorus cycle. We review the current state of knowledge about human phosphorus use and dependence and present examples of these sustainable solutions.

SN 2011A: A low-luminosity interacting transient with a double plateau and strong sodium absorpton

We present optical photometry and spectroscopy of the optical transient SN 2011A. Our data span 140 days after discovery including BVRI u′g′r′i′z′ photometry and 11 epochs of optical spectroscopy. Originally classified as a type IIn supernova (SN IIn) due to the presence of narrow Hα emission, this object shows exceptional characteristics. First, the light curve shows a double plateau, a property only observed before in the impostor SN 1997bs. Second, SN 2011A has a very low luminosity (M_V=-15.72), placing it between normal luminous SNe IIn and SN impostors. Third, SN 2011A shows low velocity and high equivalent width absorption close to the sodium doublet, which increases with time and is most likely of circumstellar origin. This evolution is also accompanied by a change in line profile; when the absorption becomes stronger, a P Cygni profile appears. We discuss SN 2011A in the context of interacting SNe IIn and SN impostors, which appears to confirm the uniqueness of this transient. While we favor an impostor origin for SN 2011A, we highlight the difficulty in differentiating between terminal and non-terminal interacting transients.