A Markov chain model for the early stochastic phase of the transmission of an infectious pathogen is studied, investigating its properties in the case of an isolated population and of two coupled populations with explicit movement of infectious individuals. Travel was found to play a role in the early development and spread of an infectious disease, particularly in the case of differing basic reproduction numbers in the connected locations. / February 2017

Abstract Taiwan has a subtropical climate that is the exceptional advantaged prior requirement for orchid breeding. It also has the most ideal ecological environment and abundant sources of original species. From interest planting in the past, up to the planting and production works for Japan, all the profoundest production skills are accumulated and enhanced as the organization and reproduction skills of breeding genes were largely refined and improved in these recent years. Following large production of orchids and reduction of capitals, orchids are distributed out to markets in the country and internationally with prices at par. Phalaenopsis (butterfly orchid) is the most famous breed of all which has occupied half of the world¡¦s market. With the internationalization and liberalization of international competitive markets, the rapid change of environment is incomparable with the past. Under the pressures of competing over the quality with advanced countries like Holland and contending for prices with the less advanced countries like Mainland China, Taiwan traders have to endure the competitive pressures of both inside and outside Taiwan with specific might and know how to cope with things such as: protection system for breed patents, approval by the environmental protective unit, quarantine system, and other environmental problems that might be confronted. This is a very important topic for the traders on whether the industry would successfully grow or not. In 2004, phalaenopsis has been ranked by the government to be the leader of the flagship agricultural products. It has the potential of effective sales throughout the whole world. This research had made brief description on the development of each stage of the industry and understood the environmental features of the industry in every stage. And through the survey of the entire industrial value chain (breeding, organized cultivation, production, approaches) , the research had also comprehended the challenges confronted by the industry such as: delivery on schedule, link production, quality control, international sales, order taking ability, blight control, etc. Attempts were made in searching out for the core competency (breeding, quantity production skills) from the causes behind the problems (cognitive concept, basic works are not firmed enough, insufficient management ability). Abilities must thoroughly be developed and the faults must be improved, and the environmental changes of the industry must be promptly coped with. Lastly, it was suggested that new performance spaces be developed for uncompetitive new creations with higher values and furthermore, create new professional brand images to seek for a new industrial trend.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Carleton University, 1993. / Also available in electronic format on the Internet.

Thesis (M.A.)--University of Wisconsin--Madison, 1965. / eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Bibliographical essay: leaves 94-97.

Today's world is characterized by volatility and uncertainty. Cooperation is needed to survive in this harsh business climate. Cooperation in supply chains are practiced and well known but in today's tough and volatile environment it is simply not enough. Wastes and unnecessary processes have to be eliminated to secure a competitive advantage. Incorporating lean in supply chains get more and more attention and embrace in the modern literature and media. Lean implemented in supply chains is praised to create a proactive supply chain that successfully eliminate waste and create efficiency. In the thesis the negative aspects, the angle that is very seldom described in the literature, of incorporating lean in supply chain is researched. I will view lean from the management perspective and research the negative aspects, their cause and impact on the entire supply chain. Being aware of the criticism of lean from the employee and society perspective this research serves to find if lean from the management perspective is a flawless story. To achieve the aim of this thesis I conducted a survey research where 100 supply chain executives from different countries, different industries and of different designations within supply chain management were asked to share their lean experience. The summary of my research show that lean incorporated in supply chains is not only a sunshine story. I can conclude problems, even a mismatch, with the lean concept incorporated in supply chains- the time sensibility lean brings. In my research it became obvious that lean supply chains are very sensitive to delays and that the consequences of the delays will strike very hard - hence the lean supply chain can also be seen as more vulnerable and fragile compared to ordinary supply chains. There is no question about the fact that any company, any network of companies or a supply chain for that matter, are better off without delays. A delay will always be negative. In a lean environment, where time aspects such as Just-In-Time and a pull scenario are present, a delay will immediately ruin the entire execution and the consequences will naturally spread in the supply chain. In today's volatile and ever changing world I believe that leanness in supply chains are indeed needed but to an extent where the time factors are viewed realistically in order to avoid drastic consequences. My conclusion is that supply chains should be realistically lean, bearing the time factors of lean in mind, to avoid being mean. I encourage every supply chain to identify their lean level in order to avoid a mean result.

Thesis (MTech (Business Administration))--Cape Peninsula University of Technology, 2019 / Performance measurement of supply chain in the healthcare environment has presented with a number of challenges, and studies exist to confirm this. These problems include rising costs, excessive demands, shortage of supply, and escalating level of customer dissatisfaction are the true reflection of supply chain issues faced by the hospitals. This study aims to find out an effective solution to measure supply chain performance within a hospital in Cape Town. The relation among trust, SCM/IT integration, firm’s performance, and knowledge exchange were investigated. A mixed research method (both qualitative and quantitative) was conducted involving five managers and 80 employees from the hospital. A number of interviews and a close-ended questionnaire were used for data collection. Content analysis was used for qualitative data and the descriptive results were generated through SPSS V25. Hospital and healthcare environment have been used interchangeable in this study. The research findings showed that trust levels between the hospital and its suppliers has no direct impact on supplier integration, but that its influence is interceded by knowledge exchange. Knowledge exchange plays an important role in influencing supply chain performance in the hospital. IT integration and knowledge exchange have a positive impact on hospital–supplier logistical integration between the hospital and its suppliers. In addition, knowledge sharing in supply chain may subsequently build strong relationships among SCM partners and may automatically influence hospital performance. This study recommended that the hospital should develop an approach that facilitates the dynamics of the hospital in order to manage the buyer-supplier relationship. Further research can be done on factors that contribute to buyer/supplier trust development in the healthcare environment.

Client satisfaction is recognized as an important indicator in performance monitoring and evaluation. The Silver Chain Grief Support Service was evaluated using client satisfaction as a performance indicator. Data were collected via mailed, telephone and personal interviews utilizing the Client Satisfaction Questionnarie-8, dimensions of the Evaluation Ranking Scale, and open-ended questions. Results indicate high levels of satisfaction with the service. Findings and limitations of the evaluation are discussed. Recommendations for improvement of the service are presented.

No description available.

Our previous studies showed that recombinant £]-bungarotoxin B chain exhibited membrane-damaging activity. Given that membrane-damaging activity is crucial for bactericidal effect of antibacterial peptide, the causal relationship between membrane-damaging activity and antibacterial action of B chain was performed in this study. £]-bungarotoxin B chain exhibited a growth inhibition on Escherichia coli (Gram-negative bacteria), but marginally displayed bactericidal effect on Staphylococcus aureus (Gram-positive bacteria). Destabilization of lipopolysaccharide (LPS) layer and inhibition of lipoteichoic acid (LTA) biosynthesis on cell wall increased bactericidal effect of B chain on E. coli and S. aureus. B chain induced leakage and fusion of bacterial membrane-mimicking liposomes. Compared with LPS, LTA notably suppressed membrane-damaging activity and fusogenicity of B chain. B chain showed similar binding affinity with LPS and LTA. Circular dichroism measurement revealed that LPS- and LTA-binding differently induced conformational change of B chain. Taken together, our data indicate that antibacterial action of B chain is related to its ability to induce membrane permeability and fusogenicity, and suggest that LTA- and LPS- induced conformational change of B chain affect membrane-damaging activity, fusogenicity and antibacterial activity of B chain.

Global competition and electronic business is the inevitable for enterprises in the twenty-one century. Information technology for enterprises is just tools. According to an enterprise¡¦s role that is played in its supply chain and functions that is providing products¡¦ value, an enterprise apply business process design should display the advantage of electronic business. According to the Value System and the Supply Chain macro view, the research analyzed business processes and proposed a business process design approach, named ¡§Collaborated Design Approach of Business Process¡¨, to apply to enterprises collaboration and electronic business. Five steps composed the approach. The first step is Value System analysis to define the Value System, critical activities and linkages. And according that, the research defined the architecture of business core processes and linkages. The secondary step is business core process design. Based on the Value chain, the research explored the relations between demands, supplies and control, and proposed business processes integrated design directions. The third step is an analytic characteristic of supply chain. The research analyzed the supply chain variations with business process design. The forth step is processes simulated and analytic. The research simulated and evaluated the supply chain variations with business process design. The fifth step is the process operational strategy. The ¡§Process operational strategy matrix¡¨ that presented by the research, the research proposed suggestions of inbound and outbound logistics process operational strategies. The research use the supply chain of a famous brand sports shoes company as case study to instructed how to apply the ¡¨Collaborated Design Approach of Business Process¡¨.