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Quality management has been widely discussed in the literature, and recent special issues on humanitarian supply chains and relief operations have emphasized the increasing importance of quality management in this key emerging area. In this paper, we provide an extensive literature review in the field of quality management in humanitarian operations and disaster relief management. Our comprehensive review, comprising 61 articles published from 2009 to 2018, leads to the identification of enablers (e.g., transparency, policy framework), challenges (e.g., financial services, identity protection), and theory development approaches, as well as numerous research gaps that must be addressed.

The residential building typology of Stone in Mud Mortar (SMM) masonry contributed significantly to the seismic losses caused by the 2015 Nepalese seismic sequence, also known as the 2015 Gorkha earthquake. SMM masonry is the most common construction type in Nepal, and notwithstanding the extensive damage, this has persisted in the post-earthquake reconstruction. This paper provides first an overview of the extent of damage and typical failure modes suffered by this typology. Some pressing issues in the ongoing post-earthquake reconstruction, such as building usability, construction quality are then discussed. The results of seismic analyses on both the pre-earthquake (PRE-SMM) and post-earthquake built (POST-SMM) typologies, using the applied element method employing a modelling strategy that accounts for the random shape of stone units, are then presented and discussed in terms of capacity curves and failure mechanisms. As per the seismic design code of Nepal, seismic performance assessment is conducted to understand the seismic design levels of these constructions. Finally, seismic fragility and vulnerability functions for both the PRE-SMM and POST-SMM typologies, considering the uncertainty in ground motions and material quality, are presented and discussed. Considering the seismic hazard in Nepal, the PRE-SMM typology is found to be highly vulnerable and seismic strengthening of these buildings is urgent. On the other hand, the POST-SMM typology has adequate seismic capacity and performs within the serviceability limit, given the quality of both the construction materials and workmanship are not compromised.

Abundant molecules enable countless combinations of device architecture that might achieve the desirable high efficiency from organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs). Due to the relatively high cost of OLED materials and facilities, simulation approaches have become a must in further advancing the field faster and saver. We have demonstrated here the use of state-of-art simulation approaches to investigate the effect of molecular orbital energy levels on the recombination of excitons in OLED devices. The devices studied are composed of 1,1-bis[(di-4-tolylamino)phenyl]cyclohexane (TAPC) as hole transporting material (HTM), 4,4′-Bis(9-carbazolyl)-1,1′-biphenyl (CBP) as host, 2,2',2”-(1,3,5-benzinetriyl)-tris(1-phenyl-1-H-benzimidazole) (TPBi) or bathophenanthroline (Bphen) as electron transporting materials. The outcomes reveal that exciton recombination highly sensitive to the energy-level alignment, injection barriers, and charge mobilities. A low energy-barrier (<0.4 eV) between the layers is the key to yield high recombination. The lowest unoccupied molecular orbital (LUMO) levels of the organic layers have played a more pivotal role in governing the recombination dynamics than the highest occupied molecular orbital (HOMO) level do. Furthermore, the Bphen based device shows high exciton recombination across the emissive layer, which is >10 6 times greater than that in the TPBi based device. The high carrier mobility of Bphen whose electron mobility is 5.2 × 10 −4 cm 2 V −1 s −1 may lead to low charge accumulation and hence high exciton dynamics. The current study has successfully projected an in-depth analysis on the suitable energy-level alignments, which would further help to streamline future endeavours in developing efficient organic compounds and designing devices with superior performance.

Inhibin, β, which is also known as INHBA, encodes a protein that belongs to the Transforming Growth factor-β (TGF-β) superfamily, which plays a pivotal role in cancer. Gastrointestinal tract (GI tract) cancer refers to the cancers that develop in the colon, liver, esophagus, stomach, rectum, pancreas, and bile ducts of the digestive system. The role of INHBA in all GI tract cancers remains understudied. By utilizing GEPIA2, which uses transcriptomic data from TCGA, we examined the expression of INHBA across different GI tract cancers. The results revealed consistent upregulation of INHBA in all TCGA GI tract cancers, except for liver hepatocellular carcinoma, where it showed downregulation compared to normal tissues, along with GTEx normal samples. Significant differences in INHBA expression were noted in adenocarcinomas of the colon, pancreas, rectum, and stomach, while no such differences were observed in cholangiocarcinoma and liver cancer. Moreover, a comprehensive bioinformatics analysis has been done to demonstrate that the differences in expression levels are significantly related to pathological tumor stages and prognosis in different GI tract cancers. Mucinous adenocarcinoma, esophageal squamous cell carcinoma, and stomach adenocarcinoma show a higher frequency of INHBA alteration and are primarily linked to mutations and amplifications. DNA methylation, immune infiltration, functional enrichment analysis, the genes associated with INHBA, and survival analysis in all TCGA GI tract cancers have been extensively analyzed. In colon and stomach cancers, increased INHBA expression significantly correlates with poorer overall survival (OS). However, in colon and pancreatic adenocarcinoma, higher expression is significantly associated with worse disease-free survival (DFS). Additionally, INHBA expression exhibited a positive correlation with cancer-associated fibroblasts across all gastrointestinal (GI) tract cancers. The KEGG pathway analysis revealed that INHBA and its interacting proteins are involved in several pathways, including TGF-beta signaling, Signalling pathways regulating pluripotency of stem cells, colorectal cancer, pancreatic cancer, AGE-RAGE signaling, and so on as major pathways. These findings demonstrate that INHBA could serve as a potential biomarker therapeutic target for GI tract cancer.

The purpose of this study is to explore the effect of lean practices on performance measures in the automotive industry and identify the lean criteria that can have significant impact on automotive supply chain. The identified lean practices can serve as a template to enhance the performance of a supply chain. The present study offers a multi-criteria decision-making approach to identify the effective performance practices in automotive lean supply chain. The decision-making trial and evaluation laboratory (DEMATEL) was applied on a matrix of observed values and the actual effect of proposed practices was observed. Further it was confirmed with the help of fuzzy-Vlsekriterijumska Optimizacija I Kompromisno Resenje (VIKOR; that means multicriteria optimization and compromise solution, with pronunciation). The criteria which had the most impact are proposed for achieving the future goals of leanness. It was found that among the lean criteria considered, quality management, information management and customer management practices influence the key performance measures more than others. Although DEMATEL and fuzzy-VIKOR were applied for situation leading to setting up of priorities of factors that considered affecting automotive manufacturer, the proposed methodology can be applied in diverse industrial settings. The present study may help decision-makers to device the appropriate strategy in identifying major practices that influence the lean supply chain.

Seed dormancy is an adaptive trait that does not allow the germination of an intact viable seed under favorable environmental conditions. Non-dormant seeds or seeds with low level of dormancy can germinate readily under optimal environmental conditions, and such a trait leads to preharvest sprouting, germination of seeds on the mother plant prior to harvest, which significantly reduces the yield and quality of cereal crops. High level of dormancy, on the other hand, may lead to non-uniform germination and seedling establishment. Therefore, intermediate dormancy is considered to be a desirable trait as it prevents the problems of sprouting and allows uniformity of postharvest germination of seeds. Induction, maintenance, and release of seed dormancy are complex physiological processes that are influenced by a wide range of endogenous and environmental factors. Plant hormones, mainly abscisic acid (ABA) and gibberellin (GA), are the major endogenous factors that act antagonistically in the control of seed dormancy and germination; ABA positively regulates the induction and maintenance of dormancy, while GA enhances germination. Significant progress has been made in recent years in the elucidation of molecular mechanisms regulating ABA/GA balance and thereby dormancy and germination in cereal seeds, and this review summarizes the current state of knowledge on the topic.

Measurements at the LHC have provided evidence for collective behavior in high-multiplicity proton-lead (pPb) collisions through multiparticle correlation techniques. Yet, no conclusive evidence of jet quenching — the energy loss of high-pT partons as they traverse the medium — has been detected in pPb. This raises the intriguing question: How can a medium described by hydrodynamics, and that significantly modifies the distribution of final-state hadrons, yet has no significant impact on the distribution of high-pT particles? To investigate this, a comprehensive study of differential Fourier coefficients (vn) in particle transverse momentum (pT) and event multiplicity is presented in pPb collisions recorded by the CMS experiment at a nucleon-nucleon centerof- mass energy √sNN = 8.16 TeV. In particular, new measurements of pT-differential multiparticle cumulants using the subevent method probes an extended phase space region up to a high particle pT. Additionally, we compare the results between pPb and PbPb collisions in the same multiplicity window.

Colored wheat, rich in anthocyanins, has created interest among the breeders and baking industry. This study was aimed at understanding the nutritional and product making potential of our advanced, high yielding and regionally adapted colored wheat lines. Our results indicated that our advanced colored wheat lines exhibited higher anthocyanin content and antioxidant activity than donor wheat lines and it varied in the order of white

Journal Article

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