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PurposeTeams have become the dominant mode of work in contemporary organizations and critical for successful completion of various tasks, projects and overall organizational effectiveness. Organizational factors such as organizational culture have often been investigated as contributing to team performance since it is difficult to develop and engage teams. But the effect of (organizational) team culture on team effectiveness (TE) has received less support. Therefore, this paper examines how factors such as organization team culture (OTC) affect different dimensions of TE in a power sector organization which has undergone a business transformation resulting in adoption of team-based work structures.Design/methodology/approachSurvey instrument capturing the variables of organizational team culture and TE was administered to mid-level managers in a power sector organization in India. Structural equation modeling (SEM) was used to test the model fit for the proposed model.FindingsA key finding of the research was that team culture (OTC dimensions) (i.e. participation, communication, trust, training inputs and support and support for teamwork) contribute to TE.Originality/value OTC and its impact on creating effective teams, particularly in the power sector, is an original contribution of this research. The OTC and TE framework may be used to diagnose team weaknesses and concerns and to design effective HR interventions.

Purpose Lean manufacturing (LM) is prevalent in the manufacturing industry; thus, focusing on fast and accurate lean tool implementation is the new paradigm in manufacturing. Value stream mapping (VSM) is one of the many LM tools. It is understood that combining LM implementation with VSM tools can generate better outcomes. This paper aims to develop an expert system for optimal sequencing of VSM tools for lean implementation. Design/methodology/approach A proposed artificial neural network (ANN) model is based on the analytic network process (ANP) devised for this study. It will facilitate the selection of VSM tools in an optimal sequence. Findings Considering different types of wastes and their level of occurrence, organizations need a set of specific tools that will be effective in the elimination of these wastes. The developed ANP model computes a level of interrelation between wastes and VSM tools. The ANN is designed and trained by data obtained from numerous case studies, so it can predict the accurate sequence of VSM tools for any new case data set. Originality/value The design and use of the ANN model provide an integrated result of both empirical and practical cases, which is more accurate because all viable aspects are then considered. The proposed modeling approach is validated through implementation in an automobile manufacturing company. It has resulted in benefits, namely, reduction in bias, time required, effort required and complexity of the decision process. More importantly, according to all performance criteria and subcriteria, the main goal of this research was satisfied by increasing the accuracy of selecting the appropriate VSM tools and their optimal sequence for lean implementation.

The aim of this paper is to present empirical evidence about the relationship between Agri-fresh Food Supply Chain Quality (AFSCQ) practices and Organizational Sustainability (OS) outcomes. Organizational Sustainability embraces economic, environment and social sustainability. Based on literature review, a set of AFSCQ practices has been identified to create a theoretical model and to setup their relationship to OS as Economic Sustainability (ECS), Social Sustainability (SOS) and Environmental Sustainability (ENS). The measurement scales of AFSCQ practices and measures of OS were established in four stages: initial instrument development; structured interviews and utilization of Q-sort method; wide-ranging data collection by survey questionnaire; and analysis to confirm reliability and validity. Finally, Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) was utilized to validate the model with survey data collected from Indian agri-fresh food industry. The study developed relationships between AFSCQ and OS. Specifically, Customer Focus (CF) and Supplier Management(SM), both have direct and indirect influence on OS while Top Management Leadership and Commitment to AFSCQ, Internal Management(IM) and Supply Chain Integration Management using IT(SCIMIT) have indirect and direct influences on OS, respectively. The results also show that AFSCQ practices should be executed as an integrated coordination instead of independent practices, wherein they co-operate with each other and enrich OS. The empirical outcomes of this paper give evidence to count the AFSCQ as a reliable medium for OS. The AFSCQ practices are favorable to develop organizational sustainability, and then improve economic, social and environmental performance indirectly. The suggested model establishes the relationship between AFSCQ and OS. Additionally, the model’s justification to utilize the Indian agri-fresh food industry gave significant insights both from theoretic and realistic perspectives.

Organizations and managers need to consider multiple criteria when they want to evaluate or rank their available plans and alternatives. A proper decision-making process enables organizations to select and implement strategies that are more in line with their business goals and prospects. Problems arises with some issues in a complex decision-making environment, that, if not addressed adequately, can limit organizations from selecting the best and most desired alternatives. Issues include the lack of enough information about criteria, the dependence of criteria, and expert judgment inconsistency during the decision-making process. We introduce a new multicriteria decision-making model (MCDM) in this article. The model interactively modifies the inconsistent judgment of experts. The inadequacy of criteria and complementary and supplementary properties of criteria are also introduced and discussed. These items help guide how organizations and managers can utilize the model to overcome the identified decision-making problems.

PurposeCollaboration methods are unique strategies that can help organizations hedge against external and internal supply chain risks without stressing their relationships with supply chain partners. However, selecting the most appropriate collaboration method from a given set of strategies is a multifaceted challenge. This paper aims to address this issue.Design/methodology/approachThe decision maker's dilemma of fighting data uncertainty in input parameters to check the efficacy of a given collaboration or mitigation approach is tackled by the integration of Grey theory with the technique for order of preference by similarity to ideal solution (TOPSIS) method. The proposed technique is applied and tested for an Indian diesel generator-set manufacturer to identify the most apposite set of sustainable collaboration strategies.FindingsThe results showed that when a firm is bidding for different horizontal collaboration strategies across its supply chain system technology and resource-sharing-centered collaboration strategies are the prominent option. In the case of the company's vertical collaboration deployment, the focus should be kept on information sharing to achieve impactful collaboration. The outcome of the analysis helped the Indian manufacturer to adopt transparent order and production information sharing with its regional distributors and core suppliers within its supply chain.Originality/valueThis study demonstrates from a methodological perspective the successful application of the Grey-TOPSIS approach that effectively captures data uncertainty. It also integrates sustainability parameters in collaboration strategy criteria selections.

Introduction Angiotensin Converting Enzyme Inhibitors (ACEI) are a common cause of Emergency Room presentation for angioedema. Although no treatment guidelines exist, C1 esterase inhibitor concentrate (C1-INH) is used on an off label basis for management of ACEI acquired angioedema (ACEI AAE). Objective To evaluate the efficacy of C1-INH in management of ACEI AAE at our local centers. Results Nine patients, from 3 academic sites, were identified through Allergy Service consultation data and records from Diagnostic Services Manitoba, Canada from 2010–2020. The majority of the patients (n = 8/9) required endotracheal intubation prior to the initiation of C1-INH. Overall, approximately 56% of patients (n = 5/9) had resolution of angioedema ranging between 12 and 17 h, with a median time of 13.5 h, and no recurrence after the administration of C1-INH concentrate. One patient had transient symptom resolution in 14 h, however, recurrence of angioedema required re-intubation. The remainder of patients (n = 4/9), had resolution of angioedema between 22 and 72 h, with a median time of 33.75 h. Conclusion Our findings demonstrate continued ambivalence of the efficacy and role of C1-INH concentrate in the treatment of ACEI AAE, secondary to multiple uncontrolled confounding factors. Further research into characterizing a subgroup of intubated patients in our study that responded to C1-INH concentrate needs to be completed.

Dog breed classification and identification is one of the fine and interesting topic that makes to look upon and find fascinating. This project is based on the classification of the different class of breed in which the evaluation of each test image takes place and the probabilities of each test image finds the accurate breed of the dog. The use of transfer learning that is what you know in one domain and apply into another domain. Training of the model on the train dataset and then find the outcome and accuracy of the model on test dataset images. There are 120 breeds of dog on which the model made the prediction and 10000+ images for the test, train and validate .The model used in this is MOBILENET –V2 to obtain the accuracy of breed of dog with 94+ % accuracy .Tenserflow and Tenserflow hub is used to implement the model training and 100 epochs and batch size of 32 is used to achieve the accuracy.

Background: Chronic spontaneous urticaria (CSU) is inadequately controlled in many patients and greatly affects quality of life. Remibrutinib, a highly selective, oral, novel covalent Bruton tyrosine kinase inhibitor, might be effective in CSU. Objective: This first-in-patient trial aimed to evaluate the efficacy and safety of remibrutinib in CSU treatment and characterize the dose-response. Methods: This randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, phase 2b dose-finding trial evaluated remibrutinib (12 weeks) in patients inadequately controlled with second-generation H1-antihistamines, with at least moderately active CSU, with or without prior anti-IgE treatment (NCT03926611). Patients received remibrutinib 10 mg once daily, 35 mg once daily, 100 mg once daily, 10 mg twice daily, 25 mg twice daily, 100 mg twice daily, or placebo (1:1:1:1:1:1:1 ratio). The main end points were weekly Urticaria Activity Score change from baseline at week 4 and safety. Results: Overall, 311 patients were randomized. Reduced symptom score was observed for all remibrutinib doses from week 1 until week 12, with weekly Urticaria Activity Score change from baseline at week 4: -19.1 (10 mg once daily), -19.1 (35 mg once daily), -14.7 (100 mg once daily), -16.0 (10 mg twice daily), -20.0 (25 mg twice daily), -18.1 (100 mg twice daily), and -5.4 for placebo (nominal P < .0001 for all doses vs placebo). Most adverse events were mild or moderate, with no dose-dependent pattern. Conclusion: Remibrutinib was highly effective in the treatment of CSU over the entire dose range, with a rapid onset of action and a favorable safety profile.

The health care system is characterized by limited resources, including the physical facilities as well as skilled human resources. Due to the extensive fixed cost of medical facilities and the high specialization required by the medical staff, the problem of resource scarcity in a health care supply chain is much more acute than in other industries. In the pandemic of the Coronavirus, where medical services are the most important services in communities, and protective and preventive guidelines impose new restrictions on the system, the issue of resource allocation will be more complicated and significantly affect the efficiency of health care systems. In this paper, the problem of activating the operating rooms in hospitals, assigning active operating rooms to the COVID-19 and non-COVID-19 patients, assigning specialty teams to the operating rooms and assigning the elective and emergency patients to the specialty teams, and scheduling their operations is studied by considering the new constraints of protective and preventive guidelines of the Coronavirus. To address these issues, a mixed-integer mathematical programming model is proposed. Moreover, to consider the uncertainty in the surgery duration of elective and emergency patients, the stochastic robust optimization approach is utilized. The proposed model is applied for the planning of operating rooms in the cardiovascular department of a hospital in Iran, and the results highlight the role of proper management in supplying sufficient medical resources effectively to respond to patients and scheduled surgical team to overcome the pressure on hospital resources and medical staff results from pandemic conditions.

The cleavage crack deviation at grain boundary has been studied in detail in a ferritic steel. The crystallographic orientations of the neighboring grains consisting cleavage facets have been obtained by Electron back-scattered diffraction analysis on the fracture surface. The possible tilt and twist angle between the cleavage facets have been predicted using the crystallographic orientations of the neighboring grains. Different geometrical features appear at the cleavage facet boundaries such as ridge zone and angular step have been co-related with the tilt and twist angle of the grain boundaries.

PurposeThe Indian marble and stone industry has got the potential to contribute well to the development of the emerging economy. However, unlike the other Indian industries, stone and marble industries are highly underrated sectors, which may become a critical factor for development. This paper analyses the sustainability factors in supply chain management practices.Design/methodology/approachA literature review is used to identify the barriers and drivers in sustainable supply chain management practices. Interpretive structural modeling has been used to obtain a hierarchy of barriers and drivers along with driving power and dependence power analysis. Further, MICMAC analysis is used for segregating the barriers and drivers in terms of their impact on sustainability.FindingsThe findings of the work of this research are that the attention of society, government, and commercial banks should be more toward the unorganized condition of stone and marble sector. There should be an increase in the commitment of stakeholders to reduce pollution and install safety, by enforcing more relevant laws and regulations and creating the importance of environmental awareness.Originality/valueThe main contribution of this research is to identify the barriers and drivers of sustainable supply chain management in a stone and marble industry. The paper proposes a sound mathematical model to prioritize the critical factors for responsible production and consumption of resources from sustainability perspectives of stone industry.

Duodenal polyps are rare in patients undergoing upper gastrointestinal endoscopy. The present study is an experience of the histopathological spectrum of the duodenal polyps and its correlation with the clinical and endoscopic findings in a tertiary care centre.The present study is a 10-year retrospective study from the year 2011 to 2020. All the relevant clinical, endoscopic and radiologic findings were retrieved from the hospital medical records. Old histopathology slides were restained, and wherever required, special stains and immunohistochemistry (IHC) were performed. All the cases were reviewed. The present study mainly included descriptive statistics with categorical and continuous variables.Total 81 cases of duodenal polyps were studied in the period of 10 years. The median age was 48 years. Male: female ratio was 2.2:1. The most common presenting system was abdominal pain. We experienced both solitary and multiple polyps. The majority of the duodenal polyps were non-neoplastic, with unremarkable mucosa or inflammatory type. Unlike previous studies the most common site for the hyperplastic polyp in the present study was the first part of the duodenum. Among the neoplastic polyps, adenomatous polyp was the most common type. Contrary to the previous studies, our study showed the first part of the duodenum as the most common site for the sporadic nonampullary adenomatous duodenal polyps. Of the rare entities, we encountered a single case each of lipomatous polyp and gangliocytic paraganglioma. Among the syndromes we encountered two cases of Peutz-Jeghers syndrome and one case of familial adenomatous polyp in our study population.CONCLUSION Duodenal polyps are a rare finding on endoscopic examinations, though most of them are non-neoplastic in nature, vigilant examination under the microcope is required to rule out any neoplastic pathology and identify the risk of malignancy.

Exacerbated systemic signs/symptoms, including respiratory distress, with SARS-CoV-2 infection (COVID-19) has been linked to a disruption in the balance of pro- and anti-inflammatory cytokines.[1] The effect of immunomodulatory therapies on the clinical course of COVID-19 remains under investigation. Limited studies report no increase in incidence of infection or risk of developing severe COVID-19 symptoms in patients with psoriasis treated with biologic agents.[2-5] Apremilast is an oral phosphodiesterase-4 inhibitor approved for the treatment of chronic plaque psoriasis, psoriatic arthritis, and Behcet's disease. Contrary to patients' concerns about the use of immunomodulatory agents during the COVID-19 pandemic, data from 3 Canadian dermatology practices showed that patients did not discontinue apremilast due to such concerns.[6] The risk of contracting SARS-CoV-2 in patients receiving apremilast treatment, however, remains unknown. Accordingly, we aimed to quantify the proportion of patients with psoriasis who contracted COVID-19 during treatment with apremilast.

Production of a thin cold rolled sheet of high silicon electrical steel is industrially challenging as it is associated with the formation of different types of cracks. The present study investigates the role of microstructure, crystallographic texture, and analytical stress state on the formation of alligator crack and edge crack during cold rolling of Fe-3.78 wt. % Si electrical steel. Owing to high strain incompatibility, alligator crack initiates from shear bands, which develops during cold rolling. Furthermore, the large difference in Taylor factors of {111}⟨110⟩ and {001}⟨110⟩ oriented grains assisted the crack to follow the hot band interface. Stress analysis based on the finite element method indicates that minor tensile stress in the normal direction develops during the exit stage of cold rolling. This tensile stress has been found to be sufficient to cause cleavage fracture during the last step of alligatoring. The crack propagation is assisted by the large size and favorable orientation of θ-fiber (ND||⟨001⟩) textured grains. On the other hand, the finite element method-based analysis suggests that high tensile stress at the edges during steady state condition initiates the cleavage edge crack, which propagates inward along the transverse direction during the final exit stage. Intermediate annealing and hot band annealing were found to be effective in eliminating the formation of alligator crack and edge crack, respectively.

Markov approach is applicable for reliability and availability modelling when time to failure and repair follow an exponential distribution. Since failure time of mechanical components follows Weibull distribution, Markov approach cannot be employed to these systems. In present work, Semi-Markov model, which is appropriate for repairable mechanical systems, is considered. In structural dependency, once a unit of a repairable system is failed due to one or more of its constituent components, the entire unit is taken for repair. Therefore, the repairs are considered at the unit level. This feature of structural dependency in the proposed approach addresses the problem of larger state space. The states at the unit level are derived from the component states to develop the system model. The solutions for reliability and availability are obtained using the Monte Carlo simulation. The suggested approach is realistic than the existing software’s such as Rapid Algorithmic Prototyping Tool for Ordered Reasoning, Blocksim, etc., as failures and repairs are considered at different hierarchical levels. The recommended approach is illustrated for a centrifugal pumping system.

The key idea of the paper is the development of a probabilistic model for optimum inventory policy for a three-product, four-echelon, distributive system. The mathematical model is built based on integer policy of ordering in the deterministic part with continuous review inventory policy. It is found to be a non-linear multi-variable constrained optimization problem. For illustration purpose, demand is taken as stationery random one and lead time is normally distributed. A MATLAB program is generated to derive the solution based on exhaustive search method. Optimum lot sizes, safety stocks, reorder points, and service levels for each product at each stage are found out in accordance with continuous review inventory system. Further inventory turnover ratio computed is found to be reasonable and bubble plot of chosen service levels of different products with annual sales, profit margin, variability in demand, and lead time is obtained with expected characteristics. The proposed model along with the applied method of solving can find the best possible order quantity and ROP of a stochastic inventory system efficiently.