The procurement alignment framework construction and application

Procurement has become increasingly important for organizations acting in dynamic supply chains and competitive markets. In practice however, companies struggle with adapting and improving their procurement business function. In line with the general trend in management and organization studies, both scholars and practitioners aim to define an integrated procurement policy that is truly aligned on all organizational and IT aspects. The central aim of this paper is to present a framework that supports the definition and application of such an integrative procurement approach. The framework is developed upon insights from IT business alignment (more specifically IT Procurement alignment), procurement maturity measurement and segmentation. It facilitates organizations in monitoring the maturity and alignment of their procurement on five different business/IT perspectives. In addition, the framework enables specific procurement improvements by taking the situational aspect of procurement segmentation into account. The framework was validated twice: through interview expert consulting and through a questionnaire using scale analysis. In a case study it was found suitable for assessing procurement maturity and identifying concrete procurement improvements.     

Sulfonated poly(styrene)s‐PBIOO® blend membranes: Thermo‐oxidative stability and conductivity

Low‐cost polymers poly(styrene) and poly(α‐methylstyrene) have been sulfonated followed by blending with PBIOO® (30 wt % sulfonated ionomer, 70 wt % PBIOO). At this polymer ratio the sulfonated ionomer served as the macromolecular acidic cross‐linker which led to enhancement of the PBIOO stability. Both membrane types were treated with Fenton's Reagent to investigate their resistance to oxidation and radical attack. Indeed, the blend membranes showed enhanced stability in oxidative conditions compared to the pure PBIOO membranes. Furthermore, the sulfonated poly(α‐methylstyrene)‐PBIOO blend membrane showed less weight loss during and after Fenton's Test than the corresponding poly(styrene sulfonic acid)‐PBIOO membrane. Assuming all the characteristics of the blend membrane before and after the Fenton's Test, we concluded for a partial degradation of both sulfonated poly(styrene)s, whereas they remain in the blend membrane matrix due to the acid‐base crosslinking. Thus, since the sulfonated poly((α‐methyl)styrene)‐PBIOO blend membranes conserved their integrity even after Fenton's Test they can be regarded as potential low‐cost high‐T fuel cell membranes. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2014 , 131, 39889.     

Experimental study of the melt fracture behavior of filled high‐density polyethylene melts

In this work, the melt fracture behavior of microfilled polymer melts based on a high‐density polyethylene (HDPE) was investigated by means of a capillary rheometer, which operated at constant piston velocity. The microfilled melts examined had the same filler content (10 vol%), but differed for the type of filler (glass beads, discontinuous glass fibers, and talc). The results demonstrated that the presence of rigid fillers influences the melt fracture behavior of the filled melts in a way that is dependent on the type of filler dispersed in the HDPE melt. Opposite effects were induced by lamellar particles of talc and by glass fillers (either beads or fibers): the former promoted flow stability, whereas the latter fostered the occurrence of instabilities of “stick‐slip” type. The effects induced by the presence of the glass fillers on the oscillating flow that takes place when “stick‐slip” instabilities occur were also analyzed and discussed. POLYM. ENG. SCI., 54:364–377, 2014. © 2013 Society of Plastics Engineers     

Palladium‐Catalyzed Carbonylative Synthesis of Phthalimides from 1,2‐Dibromoarenes with Molybdenum Hexacarbonyl as Carbon Monoxide Source

We describe here a convenient and mild, carbon monoxide gas‐free palladium‐catalyzed procedure to obtain N‐substituted phthalimides with molybdenum hexacarbonyl as carbon monoxide precursor. These conditions tolerate a number of functional groups on the benzene ring as well as a number of amines and give the corresponding phthalimides in good to excellent yields.

     

Development of nanoformulation of picroliv isolated from Picrorrhiza kurroa

Picroliv, a mixture of picroside I and kutkoside isolated from rhizome of Picrorrhiza kurroa has been reported for many pharmaceutical properties such as hepatoprotective, anticholestatic, antioxidant and immune‐modulating activity. However, picroliv possessed lesser efficacy due to its poor aqueous solubility and lesser bioavailability. To find solution, picroliv was loaded into biodegradable poly lactic acid nanoparticles (PLA NPs) using solvent evaporation method. The picroliv‐loaded PLA NPs were characterised by UV–vis spectroscopy, atomic force microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, Fourier transform infrared and Zeta sizer. The size of picroliv‐loaded PLA NPs was 182 ± 20 nm. Zeta potential of picroliv‐loaded PLA NPs was −23.5 mV, indicated their good stability. In vitro picroliv release from picroliv‐loaded PLA NPs showed an initial burst release followed by slow and sustained release. The efficacy of picroliv‐loaded PLA NPs was assessed against KB cell lines. Blank PLA NPs showed no cytotoxicity on KB cells. The picroliv‐loaded PLA NPs showed more cytotoxic activity on KB cells as compared to the pure drug. Hence, the developed picroliv nanoformulation would find potential application in pharma‐sector.Inspec keywords: drugs, nanomedicine, nanofabrication, biodegradable materials, nanoparticles, biomedical materials, evaporation, ultraviolet spectra, visible spectra, atomic force microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectra, electrokinetic effects, drug delivery systems, cellular biophysics, toxicologyOther keywords: nanoformulation development, Picrorrhiza kurroa, picroside I‐kutkoside mixture, rhizome, pharmaceutical properties, hepatoprotective activity, anticholestatic activity, antioxidant activity, immune‐modulating activity, aqueous solubility, bioavailability, biodegradable poly lactic acid nanoparticles, solvent evaporation method, picroliv‐loaded PLA NPs, UV‐visible spectroscopy, atomic force microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectra, zeta‐sizer, in vitro picroliv release, KB cell lines, initial burst release, cytotoxic activity, picroliv nanoformulation, pharma‐sector     

New figures of merit for comprehensive functional genomics data: the metabolomics case

In the field of metabolomics, hundreds of metabolites are measured simultaneously by analytical platforms such as gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC/MS), liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry (LC/MS) and NMR to obtain their concentration levels in a reliable way. Analytical repeatability (intrabatch precision) is a common figure of merit for the measurement error of metabolites repeatedly measured in one batch on one platform. This measurement error, however, is not constant as its value may depend on the concentration level of the metabolite. Moreover, measurement errors may be correlated between metabolites. In this work, we introduce new figures of merit for comprehensive measurements that can detect these nonconstant correlated errors. Furthermore, for the metabolomics case we identified that these nonconstant correlated errors can result from sample instability between repeated analyses, instrumental noise generated by the analytical platform, or bias that results from data pretreatment.     

Degenerate Quantum Gases in Microgravity

Clouds of ultra-cold atoms and especially Bose–Einstein condensates (BEC) provide a source for coherent matter-waves in numerous earth bound experiments. Analogous to optical interferometry, matter-wave interferometers can be used for precision measurements allowing for a sensitivity orders of magnitude above their optical counterparts. However, in some respects the presence of gravitational forces in the lab limits experimental possibilities. In this article, we report about a compact and robust experiment generating Bose–Einstein condensates in the drop tower facility in Bremen, Germany. We also present the progress of building the succeeding experiment in which a two species atom interferometer will be implemented to test the weak equivalence principle with quantum matter.     

Prediction of Covid-19 Based on Chest X-Ray Images Using Deep Learning with CNN

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused trouble in people’s daily lives and ruined several economies around the world, killing millions of people thus far. It is essential to screen the affected patients in a timely and cost-effective manner in order to fight this disease. This paper presents the prediction of COVID-19 with Chest X-Ray images, and the implementation of an image processing system operated using deep learning and neural networks. In this paper, a Deep Learning, Machine Learning, and Convolutional Neural Network-based approach for predicting Covid-19 positive and normal patients using Chest X-Ray pictures is proposed. In this study, machine learning tools such as TensorFlow were used for building and training neural nets. Scikit-learn was used for machine learning from end to end. Various deep learning features are used, such as Conv2D, Dense Net, Dropout, Maxpooling2D for creating the model. The proposed approach had a classification accuracy of 96.43 percent and a validation accuracy of 98.33 percent after training and testing the X-Ray pictures. Finally, a web application has been developed for general users, which will detect chest x-ray images either as covid or normal. A GUI application for the Covid prediction framework was run. A chest X-ray image can be browsed and fed into the program by medical personnel or the general public.