CRM in the European large-scale retail trade: Evidence and perspectives

This article sets forth the main findings of an empirical study carried out among the main actors in the sector of large-scale retailing in Europe, as regards their respective practical experience incrm (Customer Relationship Management) as well as the opportunities offered by the Internet technologies in this field. The evidence collected is checked against the problems expounded in the literature hinging on the following four main questions:

—the existence of national orientations that are taking shape in terms of the uses ofcrm

—the reality of the training processes of companies leading to e-crm as well as the acquisition of the technical and organisational maturity necessary to master these tools

—the variety of those uses and the issue of multichannelling

—the relative benefits of market relationship linked to the development ofcrm procedures

Thus this study offers an overview of emerging trends incrm peculiar to this sector.     

电炉JetBOxTM技术的发展

美国PTI公司发明的专利技术JetBOxTM超音速氧枪喷射系统被证明是一种能有效提高电弧炉产量同时又能减少电炉改造成本的技术.通过在各个炼钢电炉上使用这种独特而有效的化学能输入方式从而获得了良好的效果.由于每个电炉的JetBOxTM系统都是专门设计,能满足每个炼钢车间的不同要求,因此已经被成功地应用在用料篮加料的普通电炉、Consteel电炉、使用DRI/HBI的电炉以及热装铁水的电炉上,同样都获得了良好的运行效果.自2001年以来JetBOxTM系统已经在全世界超过60台不同的电炉上安全而有效地运行着,满足了不同钢厂的要求.     

Characterization of ferroresonant modes in HV substation with CB grading capacitors

This paper reports a ferroresonant experience involving inductive voltage transformers (VT's) in a 400 kV substation equipped with circuit breaker grading capacitors. Field measurements are presented and compared with ATP/EMTP simulation results, showing very good agreement. A parametric analysis has been performed to investigate the effect of the substation capacitance on the occurrence of ferroresonance. Fundamental frequency and sub-harmonic ferroresonant modes have been identified and compiled in a bifurcation diagram. The methodology presented can be used to create risk maps of avoidable switching operations or substation configurations.     

New Stainless Steel Solutions as Economic Alternatives to Classical 1.4301 Austenitic Grades

In the recent situation of a historically high nickel price, austenitic stainless steels, such as 1.4301, became too expensive compared to their actual technical value in many applications. This paper presents two new stainless steel grades developed by ArcelorMittal to replace 1.4301. The first one is a 20%Cr ferritic grade. The second one is a low‐Ni Cu‐bearing austenitic grade. The choices in the compositions are described as a function of the technical requirements, economical target and the production process limitations. The final properties are discussed as a function of the composition and compared with 1.4301 and other existing stainless steels. Finally, the complementarities of these two new grades are highlighted in regard to the different application markets considered.     

Ceramics based on partly stabilized zirconium dioxide: technology,structure, properties,and behavior under dynamic action

Technology is described for manufacturing dense ceramic from very fine powder based on zirconium dioxide partly stabilized with yttrium oxide. Some engineering properties of the manufactured ceramic are defined. Its microstructure and phase composition are studied. Ceramic properties with impact-wave loading are studied, and values of dynamic elastic limit and spalling strength are obtained.     

Light aversion in mice depends on nonimage-forming irradiance detection.

Detection of light in the eye underlies image-forming vision, but also regulates adaptive responses in physiology and behavior. Typically these adaptive responses do not involve image-forming vision, but depend on a relatively absolute measure of brightness (nonimage-forming irradiance detection). The goal of this study was to further understand how image-forming vision and nonimage-forming irradiance detection contribute to the effects of light on behavior. Three light dependent behaviors were assessed in wild-type, Rpe65-/- and rd1 mice. In Rpe65-/- mice, nonimage-forming irradiance detection is severely attenuated, but rod based visual acuity is relatively preserved. In rd1 mice visual acuity is nonrecordable, but nonimage-forming responses are less severely attenuated than Rpe65-/-. Positive masking, an image-forming vision dependent increase in wheel running, was absent in rd1 and restricted to higher irradiances in Rpe65-/-. Negative masking, a suppression of wheel running sensitivity with nonimage-forming irradiance detection input, was increased in rd1, but reduced in Rpe65-/- mice. By contrast, light aversion, an avoidance of brightly lit areas, was abolished in both Rpe65-/- and rd1. This shows that image-forming vision is not sufficient for light aversion, suggesting nonimage-forming irradiance detection motivates this behavior. Further, the differing effects of disease suggest that negative masking and light aversion are distinct responses with specialized nonimage-forming irradiance detection pathways. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Development of Microsatellite Markers in the Branched Broomrape Phelipanche ramosa L. (Pomel) and Evidence for Host-Associated Genetic Divergence

Phelipanche ramosa is a parasitic plant that infects numerous crops worldwide. In Western Europe it recently expanded to a new host crop, oilseed rape, in which it can cause severe yield losses. We developed 13 microsatellite markers for P. ramosa using next-generation 454 sequencing data. The polymorphism at each locus was assessed in a sample of 96 individuals collected in France within 6 fields cultivated with tobacco, hemp or oilseed rape. Two loci were monomorphic. At the other 11 loci, the number of alleles and the expected heterozygosity ranged from 3 to 6 and from 0.31 to 0.60, respectively. Genetic diversity within each cultivated field was very low. The host crop from which individuals were collected was the key factor structuring genetic variation. Individuals collected on oilseed rape were strongly differentiated from individuals collected on hemp or tobacco, which suggests that P. ramosa infecting oilseed rape forms a genetically diverged race. The microsatellites we developed will be useful for population genetics studies and for elucidating host-associated genetic divergence in P. ramosa.     

Membrane phospholipids and sterols in microfiltered milk fat globules

Native milk fat globules of various mean diameters, ranging from d₄₃ = 2.3 µm to 8.0 µm, were obtained using microfiltration of raw whole milk. After milk fat globule washing, the milk fat globule membrane (MFGM) was separated by manual churning. After total lipid extraction and separation of polar lipids, their phospholipid (PL) and sterol composition was measured using thin‐layer chromatography, methyl ester analyses by gas chromatography, and gas chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry. The main PL species were phosphatidylethanolamine, phosphatidylcholine and sphingomyelin. The respective fatty acid composition of each PL species was measured. Many different minor bioactive sterols were detected in the MFGM, e.g. lanosterol, lathosterol, desmosterol, stigmasterol and β‐sitosterol. No significant differences in the PL and sterol profile were found between MFGM extracted from small and large milk fat globule fractions.     

Stabilizability and positiveness of solutions of the jump linear quadratic problem and the coupled algebraic Riccati equation

This note addresses the jump linear quadratic problem of Markov jump linear systems and the associated algebraic Riccati equation. Necessary and sufficient conditions for stability of the optimal control and positiveness of Riccati solutions are developed. We show that the concept of weak detectability is not only a sufficient condition for the finiteness of cost functional to imply stability of the associated trajectory, but also a necessary one. This, together with a characterization developed here for the kernel of the Riccati solution, allows us to show that the control solution stabilizes the system if and only if the system is weakly detectable, and that the Riccati solution is positive-definite if and only if the system is weakly observable. The connection between the algebraic Riccati equation and the control problem is made, as far as the minimal positive-semidefinite solution for the algebraic Riccati equation is identified with the optimal solution of the linear quadratic problem. Illustrative numerical examples and comparisons are included.     

Long polyphase sequences for adaptive MMSE detector in asynchronous CDMA PLC system

An adaptive receiver solution for an asynchronous DS-CDMA system in an indoor powerline network is proposed. A combination of different receiver structures with binary and complex-polyphase sequences is evaluated and compared in terms of bit error rate. The simulation results based on a complete powerline channel model are reported.