Collaboration in humanitarian supply chains: an organisational culture framework

The purpose of this study was to determine the impact that institutional logics and, more specifically, organisational culture can have on humanitarian supply chain (HSC) collaboration. A framework was developed that explicates buyer–supplier collaboration in a humanitarian setting. Twenty-nine semi-structured interviews were conducted with buyers and suppliers. The data indicated that in a HSC, collaborative outcomes, such as new product development, inventory management, and product/service delivery, are influenced by the buyers’ and suppliers’ organisational cultures. Based on suppliers’ characteristics, they can be classified as humanitarian suppliers, commercial suppliers, and humanitarian and commercial suppliers. These groups have distinct organisational cultures. An unexpected finding is that suppliers that serve commercial buyers primarily claim to have encountered no issues in supply chain collaboration with humanitarian buyers, although they have different types of organisational cultures. The factors that lead to successful collaboration are identified as trust, commitment, information sharing and mutual respect. Simultaneously, dominant institutional logics are observed in the dyadic relationship.     

Vector median filters

Two nonlinear algorithms for processing vector-valued signals are introduced. The algorithms, called vector median operations, are derived from two multidimensional probability density functions using the maximum-likelihood-estimate approach. The underlying probability densities are exponential, and the resulting operations have properties very similar to those of the median filter. In the vector median approach, the samples of the vector-valued input signal are processed as vectors. The operation inherently utilizes the correlation between the signal components, giving the filters some desirable properties. General properties as well as the root signals of the vector median filters are studied. The vector median operation is combined with linear filtering, resulting in filters with improved noise attenuation and filters with very good edge response. An efficient algorithm for implementing long vector median filters is presented. The noise attenuation of the filters is discussed, and an application to velocity filtering is shown     

Experimental compaction characterization of unidirectional stitched noncrimp fabrics in the vacuum infusion process

In this study, experimental test equipment developed in‐house was used to study the compaction behavior of stitched quasi‐unidirectional (UD) non‐crimp fabrics (NCF) during the pre‐filling, filling, and post‐filling stages of the vacuum infusion (VI) process. The effects of the stitch pattern, stitch tension, and fiber sizing of reinforcements, as well as the effect of nesting of fiber bundles in neighboring layers, were studied. Moreover, the effects of cyclic compaction, resin viscosity, and different post‐filling strategies were studied. The developed experimental test equipment provided an applicable measuring method for characterizing the compaction behavior of both the dry and resin‐impregnated reinforcements. The effects of the stitching parameters and fiber nesting of reinforcements were found. The stitch pattern and post‐filling strategies were noted to have an effect on the preform and laminate thickness. POLYM. COMPOS., 37:2692–2704, 2016. © 2015 Society of Plastics Engineers     

多层帘式涂布和一种新型压光技术

帘式涂布是一种低冲击预计量涂布方式,可用于纸和纸板的涂布、帘式涂布技术所产生的涂层为仿形涂层,因而能提供良好的纤维覆盖。在多层帘式涂布中,可以同时进行多层涂布。与单层帘式涂布相比,多层帘式涂布具有许多优点：投资成本更低、设计不同涂层性质更具灵活性、具有更大的涂布操作空间及涂层更薄等,     

Exposure of Listeria monocytogenes within an epidemic caused by butter in Finland.

Data on the levels of bacteria and the amounts of food consumed in food-borne outbreaks provides an excellent opportunity to study the effects of exposure to Listeria monocytogenes. Between June 1998 and April 1999, an outbreak caused by L. monocytogenes serotype 3a in butter occurred in Finland. The majority of the cases were immunocompromised and hospitalized at the Helsinki University Central Hospital (HUCH), where 7-g butter packages produced by a dairy plant were used as the only butter brand. The butter had also been sold to 10 other central hospitals as well as to the retail market. Based on the data on hospital stay, butter consumption and the qualitative and quantitative analyses of L. monocytogenes in butter, the attack rates and exposure were estimated. Incubation studies on the naturally contaminated small butter packages showed that the levels found in the packages at the time of detection of the outbreak could reliably be used for these estimations. However, the levels of L. monocytogenes in 500-g packages increased. The attack rate among HUCH patients varied from 70 to 117 cases per 1000 patients at risk, depending on which estimate of the contamination level of butter (100-60%) was used. The highest single dose (7.7 x 10(4) CFU in one meal) could have been sufficient to cause the listeriosis cases at HUCH. However, this data also supports another hypothesis, according to which these listeriosis cases were caused by a prolonged daily consumption of contaminated butter during the hospital stay. The estimated daily dose, based on the hospital kitchen data or the highest detected level in a wholesale sample (11,000 CFU/g), would have varied from 1.4 x 10(1) to 2.2 x 10(3) CFU/day or from 2.2 x 10(4) to 3.1 x 10(5) CFU/day, respectively. The choice of the hypothesis has a crucial impact on the interpretation of this data for the dose-response estimations as well as for the discussion on Food Safety Objectives. Due to the susceptibility of hospital patients, special care must be taken in order to avoid even low levels of L. monocytogenes in food served.     

热电厂烟气余热回收用于集中供热的系统形式及参数分析

目前我国燃煤热电厂在能源供应中的比例占到了40％以上,却很少回收大量烟气余热,尤其以供热为目标的余热回收项目更加少见,造成了严重的环境污染和能源浪费.文中对基于直接接触式换热和吸收式热泵技术的烟气余热梯级回收利用系统建立相应的数学模型,提出一种烟气余热回收用于集中供热的方案,探究影响该系统初投资的主要参数,分析了热网回...     

Temperature Dependence of Resistivity of Sintered Rare-Earth Permanent-Magnet Materials

We studied the resistivity of rare-earth permanent-magnet materials over the temperature range -40°C to +150°C. We investigated three different materials from four manufacturers, including Nd₂ Fe₁₄ B, SmCo₅ , and Sm₂ Co₁₇ , and measured their resistivities and temperature coefficients. We found that rare-earth permanent-magnet materials show an anisotropic resistivity behavior. In fact, the resistivity anisotropy causes larger resistivity difference than the temperature variation within the range studied. In many applications, such as permanent-magnet motors, this behavior has to be taken into account in design.     

Excitation functions for proton-induced reactions on natural hafnium: Production of 177Lu for medical use

There is an increasing interest in using radioisotopes of rare earth elements for internal radiotherapy and for imaging in nuclear medicine. ¹⁷⁷Lu is one of the promising radionuclides. This article reports on the first measurements of the excitation function for the production of ¹⁷⁷Lu with proton-beam energies up to 17 MeV on natural hafnium targets. The experimental cross sections for the reaction ^natHf(p,x)¹⁷⁷Lu were obtained by the activation of a stacked-foil target and subsequent gamma spectrometry. Theoretical cross sections were calculated up to 35 MeV with the EMPIRE nuclear reaction model code. The measured and calculated cross sections were used for deriving the thick-target yields and for estimating the production of other nuclides than ¹⁷⁷Lu. Measured production cross sections of ^{175,176,177,178}Ta on the same target are also presented.     

永磁技术应用于风力发电机的挑战

世界上十大风机制造商,有超过一半的制造商正在进行永磁发电机技术的研究,或是早已向市场推出了永磁发电机产品。通常,最简单的将传统双馈异步发电机转换为永磁发电机的办法就是用同速的永磁发电机和全功率变流器替代现在高速齿轮箱后面的双馈异步发电机,仅需要对风机和机舱布置做很小的设计改动。永磁技术提供了各种不同的概念,从10 r/min到20 r/min的大转矩直驱发电机。同时也提供了各种结构方式,像外转子轴向磁通发电机,永磁励磁使电机同时具有高效、高转矩,因为励磁不需要向系统连续地输入能量。而且,也会产生较低的同步电感,可使电机具有大转矩。