A fuzzy AHP evaluation model for buyer–supplier relationships with the consideration of benefits,opportunities, costs and risks

With increasingly fierce global competition, firms in various industries need to build a cooperative buyer–supplier relationship to survive and to acquire reasonable profit. Even though the literature on various types of collaboration between firms is abundant and the works on supplier selection models are numerous, the research that provides a mathematical model for the selection of the most appropriate form of buyer–supplier relationship is very limited. Existing buyer–supplier evaluation models usually only consider the benefits from the relationship, but not the opportunities, costs and risks that may need to be confronted. The main objective of this study is to propose an analytical approach to evaluate the forms of buyer–supplier relationship between a manufacturer and its supplier. A fuzzy analytic hierarchy process (AHP) model, which applies fuzzy set theory and the benefits, opportunities, costs and risks (BOCR) concept, is constructed to deal with uncertainty and to consider various aspects of alternatives. Multiple factors that affect the success of the relationship are analysed by incorporating experts’ opinions on their priority of importance, and a performance ranking of the buyer–supplier forms is obtained. A case study of selecting the most appropriate buyer–supplier form between a TFT-LCD manufacturer and its colour filter supplier is presented, and the proposed model is applied to facilitate the decision process. The proposed model is a general form that can be tailored and applied by firms that are making decisions on buyer–supplier relationship.     

An Investigation into the Relationship Between Maintenance and Finance

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How accurately does the public perceive differences in transport risks? An exploratory analysis of scales representing perceived risk

This paper probes the extent to which the public accurately perceives differences in transport risks. The paper is based on a survey of a random sample of the Norwegian population, conducted in September 2003. In the survey, respondents were asked: "How safe do you think it is to travel by means of (bus, train, etc.)?" Answers were given as: very safe, safe, a little unsafe, and very unsafe. A cursory examination of the answers suggested that the Norwegian public was quite well informed about differences in the risk of accident between different modes of transport, as well as between groups formed according to age and gender for each mode of transport. This paper probes the relationship between statistical estimates of risk and summary representations of perceived risk more systematically. It is found that the differences in fatality rate between different modes of transport are quite well perceived by the Norwegian public, irrespective of the way in which perceived risk is represented numerically. The relationship between statistical estimates of risk and numerical representations of perceived risk for each mode of transport is more sensitive to the choice of a numerical representation of perceived risk. A scale in which the answer "very safe" is assigned the value of 0.01 and the answer "very unsafe" is assigned the value of 10 is found to perform quite well. When the perception of risk is represented numerically according to this scale, a positive correlation between statistically estimated risk and perceived risk is found in seven of the eight comparisons that were made to determine how well variation in accident rates according to age and gender for car occupants, car drivers, cyclists and pedestrians are perceived.     

Which are the relevant costs and benefits of road safety measures designed for pedestrians and cyclists?

This paper discusses the current state-of-the-art with respect to impact assessment and cost-benefit analysis of measures designed to improve safety or mobility for pedestrians and cyclists. The study concludes that a number of impacts that are likely to regarded as important for pedestrians and cyclists are not included in current impact assessments and cost-benefit analyses as these are made in Norway. Impacts that are not currently included in impact assessments and cost-benefit analyses are: (a) changes in the amount of walking and cycling; (b) changes in travel time for pedestrians and cyclists; (c) changes in road user insecurity (feeling of safety); and (d) changes in road user health state. In order to include these effects in impact assessments and cost-benefit analyses, more needs to be known about their occurrence and monetary value. Hypothetical examples of ideally designed cost-benefit analyses are given, based on highly preliminary monetary values for travel time, insecurity and generalised costs of travel for pedestrians and cyclists. These analyses indicate that inclusion of these effects in cost-benefit analyses could make a major difference for the results of those analyses.     

Chiral Au₂₅ nanospheres and nanorods: synthesis and insight into the origin of chirality

Chirality in nanoparticles is an intriguing phenomenon. Herein, we have devised a well-defined gold nanoparticle system for investigating the origin of chirality in nanoparticles. We have designed chiral thiols (R- and S-isomers) and synthesized chiral gold nanoparticles composed of 25 gold atoms and 18 ligands, referred to as Au(25)(pet)(18), where pet represents chirally modified phenylethylthiolate -SCH(2)CH(CH(3))Ph at the 2-position. These optically active nanoparticles are close analogues of the optically nonactive phenylethylthioalte-capped Au(25)(pet)(18) nanoparticles, and the latter's crystal structure is known. On the basis of the atomic and electronic structures of these well-defined Au(25) nanoparticles, we have explicitly revealed that the ligands and surface gold atoms of Au(25)(pet)(18) play a critical role in effecting the circular dichroism responses from the nanoparticles. Similar effects are also observed in chiral Au(25) rods. The mixing of electronic states of ligands with those of surface gold atoms constitutes the fundamental origin of chirality in such nanoparticles.     

Quantification and integration of Kano’s model into QFD for optimising product design

With increasing concerns on customer needs in today’s competitive market, the issue of incorporating customer requirements into product design arises the interest of both researchers and practitioners. Quality Function Deployment (QFD) is a well-known methodology for customer-driven product design. However, conventionally, QFD analysis has a major challenge in understanding customer needs accurately. Kano’s model, which studies the nature of customer needs, provides a way for a better classification of customer needs. However, seldom research contributions are found in terms of integrating Kano’s model with QFD quantitatively. In this research, a novel integration approach is proposed. At first, Kano’s model is quantified by identifying relationship between customer needs and customer satisfaction (CS). Next, both qualitative and quantitative results from Kano’s model are integrated into QFD. Finally, a mixed non-linear integer programming model is formulated to maximise CS under cost and technical constraints. In this research, an illustrative example associated with the design of notebook computers is also presented to demonstrate the availability of the proposed approach.     

Chloride penetration into concrete structures in the marine atmosphere zone – Relationship between deposition of chlorides on the wet candle and chlorides accumulated into concrete

The relationship between chlorides from marine aerosol and chlorides accumulated into concrete is discussed in this paper. The experimental programme comprised an environmental characterisation, with climatic and chloride deposition data, and a study of chloride penetration into concrete based on natural exposure of specimens in a marine atmosphere zone. Results show that salt concentration in marine aerosol strongly decreases in the first meters from the sea. Chlorides present in the atmosphere can be studied using the wet candle method and correlated with chlorides accumulated into concrete. This relationship can be represented by the equation $C_{\text{tot}}=C_0+k_{\text{d}}·\sqrt{D_{\text{ac}}}$, where k_d is a coefficient which depends on concrete and environmental characteristics, C_tot is the average total amount of chlorides accumulated into concrete, C₀ is the chloride content in concrete before exposure and D_ac is the accumulated dry deposition of chlorides.     

Identifying beliefs underlying pre-drivers’ intentions to take risks: An application of the Theory of Planned Behaviour

Novice motorists are at high crash risk during the first few months of driving. Risky behaviours such as speeding and driving while distracted are well-documented contributors to crash risk during this period. To reduce this public health burden, effective road safety interventions need to target the pre-driving period. We use the Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB) to identify the pre-driver beliefs underlying intentions to drive over the speed limit (N = 77), and while over the legal alcohol limit (N = 72), talking on a hand-held mobile phone (N = 77) and feeling very tired (N = 68). The TPB explained between 41% and 69% of the variance in intentions to perform these behaviours. Attitudes were strong predictors of intentions for all behaviours. Subjective norms and perceived behavioural control were significant, though weaker, independent predictors of speeding and mobile phone use. Behavioural beliefs underlying these attitudes could be separated into those reflecting perceived disadvantages (e.g., speeding increases my risk of crash) and advantages (e.g., speeding gives me a thrill). Interventions that can make these beliefs safer in pre-drivers may reduce crash risk once independent driving has begun.     

An investigation into the flexural and drawing behaviors of GFRP-based fiber–metal laminate

Fiber–metal laminates (FMLs) are advanced composite materials that consist of bonded thin metal sheets and fiber-reinforced composite layers. In this article, mechanical behavior of a thermoplastic-based FML is investigated, which is composed of glass-fiber-reinforced polypropylene (GFRP) laminate and aluminum AA1200-O as the core and skin layers, respectively. Engineering constants of the composite laminate were achieved using Timoshenko's beam theory, flexural and tensile test results. Finite element simulations of the GFRP-based FML were performed to predict the behavior of this material in three-point bending and deep drawing tests. Some experimental verification tests were conducted to prove the reliability of results in the FE analysis of the FML. Comparison of the results shows an excellent correlation between the FE analysis and experimental tests.     

Photography and the Right to Life: Activestills’ and Anne Paq’s "Obliterated Families" Project

The essay focuses on the repurposing of family photography in the project “Obliterated Families” by Activestills collective photographer Anne Paq. In this project, Paq rephotographed photographs of family members who were killed in Israel’s air strikes in Gaza in 2014 at the actual bombed sites. The essay analyzes “Obliterated Families” as a project of visual activism and traces its different modes of dissemination and circulation as part of an effort to solicit a “public” for it. The mobilization of familial imagery is meant to disturb the circulation of affective responses in the Israeli public sphere by politically “presencing” those “whose lives are not regarded as lives worth saving and defending,” as Judith Butler argues. Through this project, the essay reconsiders the relations between photographic practices and the concept of universality as it pertains to a politics of human rights in light of the privatization of citizenship under neoliberal rationality.     

Banality,Memory and the Index: Thomas Demand and Hitler’s photographer

In “The Ontology of the Photographic Image”, André Bazin elucidates how photographic images enable the subject to elude death because by its very nature the image preserves the subject through the act of memory and remembering. This characteristic implies an indexical relation between the image and its referent and a reliance on memory’s capacity to recall such images. Problematising this position are photographs that are removed from their original context, detached from collective memory and forgotten, or images that, in their very banality, erase or negate meaning? This paper explores the disruption to photography’s meaning and memory in selected photographs by Thomas Demand that are restagings of photographs by Adolf Hitler’s official photographer Heinrich Hoffmann. This paper analyses these photographs in terms of memory and indexicality and considers how banality can affect the circumstances of looking — a concept that is here applied in order to reconsider these images.     

Individual and joint effect of patenting and exporting on the university spin-offs’ survival

University spin-offs (USOs) have become a common way to transfer new knowledge to society and create value, boosting economic growth. While innovative and export activities have been extensively researched as survival drivers in the organizational literature, the joint effects of both activities on firm survival has often been ignored, especially in the analysis of the USOs' survival. Using a sample of 498 Spanish USOs over the period 2005 to 2013, this paper explores the simultaneous effect of innovation and exports on the USOs' survival by applying event analysis techniques through the Cox proportional hazards model. The results reveal that patenting becomes a risky activity, particularly on early stages, when USOs have a weak resource base, which increase the failure chances. However, exports have a positive effect on the USOs’ survival. At the same time, exporting reduces the failure chances of the innovative USOs, which means that competing on international markets can counterbalance the potential risks of patenting.     

A neural network-based methodology of quantifying the association between the design variables and the users’ performances

User performance is highly correlated with design variables of a system. Such association can be described as display–control relationship. In this study, a neural network-based methodology is proposed to identify and quantify the association among design variables (inputs) and to compute their relative influences (RIs) on the two performance measures (outputs) of user response time and response accuracy, using artificial neural network, generalised regression neural network, support vector regression (SVR), multiple linear regression and response surface model. Based on the results of the comparison, it is found that neural network-based methods are more reliable than SVR-based methods in computing the RI of design variables. As a result of our analysis, the best option for optimising each of the measures is suggested. Some useful observations about the design of man–machine systems are also presented, discussed and visualised. In the study of man–machine systems, quantitative methods are seldom adopted for examining the mappings between various displays and controls under a variety of operating conditions. The major contribution of this study is to provide some insights into the usefulness of quantitative methods in evaluating man–machine design in terms of display–control compatibility and to extract explanatory information from renowned black box systems such as neural networks.     

Examining the effects of government intervention on the firm’s environmental and technological innovation capabilities and export performance

Considering our living environments directly affect the quality of our daily lives, many believe that the environment should only be safeguarded by the mighty hands of the government instead of leaving the environmental stewardship in the hands of profit-making private enterprises. As such, the government often intervenes with the way private enterprises conduct business through many different forms of environmental regulations and business incentives. However, the efficiency and effectiveness of such government intervention are still unknown and unclear at best. Many sceptics still think that economic growth and environmental protection are in conflict with each other and subsequently the firm’s environmental performance and export performance cannot be achieved simultaneously even with active government intervention over the firm’s environmental management. To clarify this misconception, this paper aims to examine whether government intervention leads to the affected firm’s both environmental and export performance (export sales performance). In addition, it investigates whether government intervention enhances the firm’s environmental and technological innovation capabilities and thus makes the firm more competitive in the global marketplace. In so doing, this paper verifies the ecological modernisation theory and institutional theory using the empirical analysis of the survey data obtained from the Korean manufacturing industry.     

Brings into Full Play the Important Role of China Research and Education Center of Plant Engineering

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