Search results

This study proposes targeted modernization of the Department of Defense (DoD's) Joint Forces Ammunition Logistics information system by implementing the optimized innovative information technology open architecture design and integrating Radio Frequency Identification Device data technologies and real-time optimization and control mechanisms as the critical technology components of the solution. The innovative information technology, which pursues the focused logistics, will be deployed in 36 months at the estimated cost of $568 million in constant dollars. We estimate that the Systems, Applications, Products (SAP)-based enterprise integration solution that the Army currently pursues will cost another $1.5 billion through the year 2014; however, it is unlikely to deliver the intended technical capabilities.

The study examines health care inequities in viral load testing among hepatitis C (HCV) antibody-positive patients. The analysis predicts whether individual and census tract sociodemographic characteristics impact the likelihood of viral load testing.

This a study of 26,218 HCV antibody-positive patients in Orange County, California, from 2010 to 2020. The case data were matched with the 2017 American Community Survey to help understand the role of neighborhood socioeconomic characteristics in testing for viral load. Multivariable logistic regression was used to predict the probability of ever testing for HCV viral load.

Thirty-six percent of antibody-positive persons were never viral load tested. The results show inequalities in viral load testing by sociodemographic factors. The following groups were less likely to ever test for viral load than their counterparts: (1) individuals under 65 years old, (2) females, (3) residents of census tracts with lower levels of health insurance enrollment, (4) residents of census tracts with lower levels of government health insurance, and (5) residents of census tracts with a higher proportion of non-white residents.

This is a secondary database from public health department reports. Using census tract data raises the issue of the ecological fallacy. Detailed medical records were not available. The results of this study emphasize the social inequality in viral load testing for HCV. These groups are less likely to be treated and cured, and may spread the disease to others.

This chapter is unique as it combines routinely collected public health department data with census tract level data to examine social inequities associated with lower rates of HCV viral load testing.

Urban logistics pooling is seen as a serious alternative to imposed urban consolidation centers. However, such strategies are quite new in urban distribution and merit to be evaluated using adapted methods that take into account the group decision nature of resource pooling. This chapter aims to propose, via an experimental collaborative decision support method, to define a grid of indicators and a reference situation database to measure the sustainable performance of urban logistics pooling systems.

The proposed methodology combines a systematic literature analysis of Key Performance Indicators and a group decision support method to choose a suitable set to define a dashboard. First, we identify the main sustainability indicators from an overview of the literature, and class them into the categories of the 4As Sustainable Transport vision (i.e., Awareness, Act and shift, Avoidance, and Anticipation). Then, a group of 20 experts is solicited for an iterative experimental group decision-making method to converge to the concordance of a set of indicators.

The method allowed us to define a hierarchic dashboard agreed by all experts with seven main indicators and nine secondary indicators. Moreover, the experts signaled the need of defining a unified basis of comparison to estimate initial situations. To do this, we proposed a database of urban routes from the French Surveys on Urban Goods Transport.

The proposed dashboard is an example, and to provide a more unified one, the experience has to be iterated using different groups of decision-makers.

This method has the advantage of proposing a dashboard agreed by all involved stakeholders. Therefore, this chapter shows the patterns to reproduce it since the method is able to be replicated in any context of group decision in urban logistics.

The originality of the chapter arises on the use of an experimental group decision method using a group with a majority of practitioners, and to validate it by consensus.

The growth in euro-denominated bond debt issued by emerging market sovereigns picked up considerably after the Asian currency crises. However, while many emerging market governments now have outstanding euro-denominated issues, the market for this debt remains considerably smaller and less liquid than its US dollar counterpart. This has implications for both investors and sovereigns as they try to balance liquidity and cost of capital considerations against portfolio diversification and exchange rate movements. Broadly speaking, spreads on emerging market bonds across countries tend to move in tandem over time. This chapter takes an introductory look at the market for euro-denominated sovereign debt, and investigates the degree to which spreads on euro-denominated emerging market sovereign debt react to common forces. Following a similar analysis of the US dollar market in McGuire and Schrijvers (2003) (hereafter MS2003), we use principal factor analysis to determine the number of common factors that drive movements in spreads, and then seek to assign meaning to these factors through simple correlations with economic variables.

The correlations between mechanical behaviour, tensile strength, and rock parameters of metasedimentary rock samples in Karak, Pahang’s New Austrian Tunnelling Method (NATM) were statistically evaluated from the rock mechanic laboratory works at the selected sections around 2,000 m of the tunnel (named as NATM-1). According to a statistical analysis, lithotypes, geological structures, and region geology have a significant impact on the mechanical behaviour of the metasedimentary rock. In the Brazilian test, the fracture behaviour of the disc specimens was highly related to the reliability and precision of the experimental data by validations of methods. In this work, the impact of different loading methods and rock lithotypes on the failure mechanism of Brazilian discs was examined utilising five different metasedimentary rock types and three different loading methods. During the loading operation, the strain and displacement fields of the specimens were recorded and evaluated using a computerised strain gauge system. The rock types, according to experimental data, have a significant impact on the peak load and deformation properties of Brazilian discs. With the method below, tensile strength point of a disc specimen is clearly regulated by the material stiffness and tensile–compression ratio. Seismic occurrences have had a substantial impact on changing the rock and exerting forces that may affect its mechanical characteristics as well as its vulnerability to weathering effects or discontinuities. As a result, the goal of this study is to look into the connection between rock mechanics and metasedimentary rock stress analysis in NATM-1, Karak, Pahang.

The social relations model (SRM; Kenny, 1994) explicitly proposes that leadership simultaneously operates at three levels of analysis: group, dyad, and individual (perceiver and target). With this model, researchers can empirically determine the amount of variance at each level as well as those factors that explain variance at these different levels. This chapter shows how the SRM can be used to address many theoretically important questions in the study of leadership and can be used to advance both the theory of and research in leadership. First, based on analysis of leadership ratings from seven studies, we find that there is substantial agreement (i.e., target variance) about who in the group is the leader and little or no reciprocity in the perceptions of leadership. We then consider correlations of leadership perceptions. In one analysis, we examine the correlations between task-oriented and socioemotional leadership. In another analysis, we examine the effect of gender and gender composition on the perception of leadership. We also explore how self-ratings of leadership differ from member perceptions of leadership. Finally, we discuss how the model can be estimated using conventional software.