Organizational determinants of IT adoption in the pharmaceutical distribution sector

The aim of this paper is to propose new organizational factors that might explain the differences in the extent and the speed of IT adoption. With this in mind, we carried out an analysis of 16 cases in the pharmaceutical distribution sector in Spain. The results indicate that there are certain intangible assets that favour the introduction and development of IT. Among these are a frank and fluid communication between departments and members of the organization, low levels of conflict, the explicit support of top management towards IT adoption and learning and creative skills of IT-staff. In addition to these factors, we found others that we propose as catalysts of IT adoption. Among these we might mention the special relationship between the member-clients and the company in the case of cooperative firms.     

Two-tier architecture for unconstrained handwritten character recognition

In this paper, we propose an approach that combines the unsupervised and supervised learning techniques for unconstrained handwritten numeral recognition. This approach uses the Kohonen self-organizing neural network for data classification in the first stage and the learning vector quantization (LVQ) model in the second stage to improve classification accuracy. The combined architecture performs better than the Kohonen self-organizing map alone. In the proposed approach, the collection of centroids at different phases of training plays a vital role in the performance of the recognition system. Four experiments have been conducted and experimental results show that the collection of centroids in the middle of the training gives high performance in terms of speed and accuracy. The systems developed also resolve the confusion between handwritten numerals.     

Development of nano indium tin oxide (ITO) grains by alkaline hydrolysis of In(III) and Sn(IV) salts

Indium tin oxide (ITO) nano powders of different compositions (In: Sn = 90: 10, 70: 30 and 50: 50) were prepared by heat treatment (300-450°C) of mixed hydroxides of In(III) and Sn(IV). The hydroxides were obtained by the reaction of aq. NH₃ with mixed aq. solutions of In(NO₃)₃ and SnCl₄. FTIR and TG/DTA studies revealed that powders existed as In(OH)₃H₂O—SnO₃H₂H₂O in the solid state and then they transformed to In₂O₃—SnO₂ via some metastable intermediates after 300°C. Cubic phase of In₂O₃ was identified by XRD for the oxides up to 30% of Sn. Particle size measurements of the solid dispersed in acetone and SEM study for microstructure showed that the oxides were in the nano range (55-75 nm) whereas the size range determined from Debye-Scherrer equation were 11–24 nm.     

A computational study of LP-based heuristic algorithms for two-dimensional guillotine cutting stock problems

In this paper we develop and compare several heuristic methods for solving the general two-dimensional cutting stock problem. We follow the Gilmore-Gomory column generation scheme in which at each iteration a new cutting pattern is obtained as the solution of a subproblem on one stock sheet. For solving this subproblem, in addition to classical dynamic programming, we have developed three heuristic procedures of increasing complexity, based on GRASP and Tabu Search techniques, producing solutions differing in quality and in time requirements. In order to obtain integer solutions from the fractional solutions of the Gilmore-Gomory process, we compare three rounding procedures, rounding up, truncated branch and bound and the solution of a residual problem. We have coded and tested all the combinations of algorithms and rounding procedures. The computational results obtained on a set of randomly generated test problems show their relative efficiency and allow the potential user to choose from among them, according to the available computing time. Rceived: January 9, 2001 / Accepted: December 10, 2001     

Mathematical analysis of viscometric (polymer) flow fields in capillaries: Taylor dispersion revisited

A general formulation for capillary flow of two miscible fluids – one a dilute plug of polymer fluid inserted into a fully developed Poiseuille flow of the other, a Newtonian stream – is examined for its long time behavior. Phenomenologically, the system evolves from an initial state, that of a plug within the boundaries of sharp, well defined fronts inside a Newtonian stream, to a more homogenized state in the very long time scale. This problem was addressed by G.I. Taylor but with regard to a system of two Newtonian fluids, leading to the well-known results commonly described as `Taylor axial dispersion'. In this paper, a general and systematic perturbation analysis is presented from which Taylor's result is recovered as a special case of a more general solution which applies to fluids incorporating elastic properties. In particular, the influence of viscoelasticity and (polymer) diffusivity on the observed pressure profile in the capillary conduit is examined. This effect is clearly separated out for small Peclet number flows using asymptotic and numerical analysis. The results identify the influence of fluid viscosity, elasticity, and diffusivity on the observed pressure profile and form the basis for the improved characterization of polymeric elasticity using capillaries – a finding that is of significant scientific and commercial interest. These results were obtained by the authors as a class of observations resulting from the perturbation analysis of forced-flow capillary devices in viscoelastic fluid property investigation.     

ANALYSIS AND PROCESSING OF LMF－COSTAS STEPPED FREQUENCY RADAR SIGNAL

Linear Modulated Frequency (LMF) Costas Stepped Frequency Radar (SFR) signal is introduced. Its ambiguity function is derived and analyzed in detail and its feasibility is validated in theory. The scheme of the proposed signal processing is also presented. The results of theoretic analysis and simulation show that, by using the proposed signal and increasing the bandwidth of the total stepped frequency, the ambiguity sidelobe is well suppressed and the range-velocity coupling in the stepped frequency radar is also greatly weakened.     

ACCELERATION AMBIGUITY FUNCTION OF RADAR SIGNALS AND ITS APPLICATION

High acceleration of radar targets is analyzed using Acceleration Ambiguity Function(AAF). The acceleration resolution based on AAF is defined. The AAF and acceleration resolution of rectangle pulse signal are derivated and the conclusion that its acceleration resolution is in inverse proportion with the square of its duration is drawn. In the end, these conclusions are applied to the parameter designing and performance evaluation for a certain type of pulse Doppler radar.