Sustainability of operations through disruptive technologies in the petroleum supply chain

PurposeDisruptive technologies can significantly contribute to the sustainability of operations in the petroleum supply chain. The present study aims to identify the prime sustainable dimensions and disruptive technologies implementation in the supply chain of the petroleum industry. The authors used content analysis in the literature and experts input to explore the sustainable dimensions and disruptive technologies in the supply chain.Design/methodology/approachThis study used a hybrid method of hesitant fuzzy set and regret theory to identify the prominent sustainability dimensions and prominent disruptive technologies. This method emphasizes the decision-makers psychological characteristics under uncertain environments.FindingsThe result indicates that social responsibility, labor practices, safety and technical standards hold the most prominent sustainable dimensions in the petroleum supply chain. Further, the result also depicts that when consider an equal degree of regret and rejoice, artificial intelligence and big data could significantly enhance operations sustainability in the petroleum industry.Research limitations/implicationsThis study considers only 11 sustainable dimensions and 43 sustainable factors, whereas other dimensions and factors could also be considered in future research. The research uses hesitant fussy set and regret set theory to identify the prominent sustainable dimensions and disruptive technologies, whereas other multiple-criteria decision-making (MCDM) techniques can also be used.Originality/valueTo the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first paper to explore the sustainable dimensions (environmental, social and economic) and disruptive technologies in the supply chain of the petroleum industry. This research intended to guide the practitioners, policymakers and academicians to emphasize their effort toward sustainable operations supply chain management.

The defaultness hypothesis

This paper demonstrates that, when interpretation is at stake, it is only degree of defaultness that matters. Neither degree of Negation, nor degree of Affirmation, nor equal degree of Novelty, nor equal degree of Literalness/Nonliteralness, nor equal strength of Contextual support, whether linguistic or pictorial (see Heruti et al. 2019), makes a difference. Instead, it is only degree of defaultness that counts. Indeed, having established degree of defaultness of negatives and affirmatives (Experiment 1.1) and their processing cost when in isolation (Experiment 1.2), we further attested to the speed superiority of default negative interpretations, which seemed more pronounced in the Left Hemisphere rather than in the Right Hemisphere (Experiment 1.2; see Giora, Cholev et al. 2018).We then further attested to the speed superiority of these negatives, when embedded in equally strong supportive contexts. Here, we also show that default Negative Sarcasm is processed significantly faster than nondefault Affirmative Sarcasm (Experiment 2). And when embedded in equally strong sarcastically biasing contexts, both hemispheres reflect the superiority of default Negative Sarcasm over nondefault Affirmative Sarcasm (Experiments 2.1–2.2). However, given Affirmative Sarcasm’s nondefaultness, it is only nondefault Affirmative Sarcasmthat is expected and shown to rely on cueing for its derivation (Corpus-based Studies 1–2, Section 3). Still, when hedonic effects are considered (see Section 4), it is only utterances’ nondefault interpretations, whether in linguistic (Experiment 3) or pictorial contexts (Experiment 4), that are entertaining, given that they make up Optimal Innovations, while involving default interpretations in the process (see Giora et al. 2004, 2017). It is degree of defaultness, then, that affects both (i) processing speed (whether in or out of context), (ii) reliance on cueing, and (iii) hedonic effects. Finally, in Section 5, our results and conclusions are summarized.

Computing Analysis of Degree and Connection Based Irregular Indices of Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons

Introduction: A graph is supposed to be regular if all vertices have equal degree, otherwise irregular. Materials and Methods: Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons are important combusting material and considered as class of carcinogens. These polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons play an important role in graphitisation of medical science. A topological index is a function that assigns a numerical value to a (molecular) graph which predicts various physical, chemical, biological, thermodynamical and structural properties of (molecular) graphs. An irregular index is a topological index that measures the irregularity of atoms with respect to their bonding for the chemical compounds which are involved in the under studying graphs. Results and Discussion: In this paper, we will compute an analysis of distance based irregular indices of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons. A comparison among the obtained indices with the help of their numerical values and the 3D presentations is also included. The efficient and steady indices of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons are addressed in the form of their irregularities. Conclusion: Connection based study of the molecular graphs is more suitable than the degree based irregularity indices.

Comparatives and Superlatives in the Romance Languages

Comparison expresses a relation involving two or more entities which are ordered on a scale with respect to a gradable property, called the parameter of comparison. In European languages, it is typically expressed through two constructions, comparatives and superlatives. Comparative constructions generally involve two entities, and indicate whether the compared entity shows a higher, lesser, or equal degree of the parameter with respect to the other entity, which is the standard of comparison. Superlatives set out one entity against a class of entities and indicate that the compared entity shows the highest or lowest degree of the parameter. Hence, comparatives may express either inequality (superiority or inferiority) or equality, whereas superlatives necessarily express superiority or inferiority. In traditional grammar, the terms comparative and superlative are primarily used to refer to the morphology of adjectives and adverbs in languages with synthetic marking (cf. Eng. slow, slower, slowest). However, while Latin has such synthetic marking, modern Romance languages no longer possess productive comparative or superlative suffixes. All Romance languages use analytic markers consisting of dedicated adverbs (e.g., Fr. plus ‘more’, moins ‘less’, aussi ‘as, also’) and determiners (e.g., Sp./It. tanto, Ro. atât ‘so much’). Superlatives are marked with the same markers and are mainly distinguished from comparatives by their association with definiteness. Another difference between comparatives and superlatives lies in the complements they license. Comparatives license a comparative complement, which may be clausal or phrasal, and which identifies the standard of comparison. As for superlatives, they license partitive PPs denoting the comparison set, which may be further specified by other PPs, a relative clause, or an infinitive clause. The Romance languages show many similarities with respect to the morphosyntactic encoding of comparatives and superlatives, but they also display important cross-linguistic differences. These differences may be related to the status of the comparative marker, the encoding of the standard marker, ellipsis phenomena in the comparative clause, and the dependence of the superlative on the definite article.

Influence of sensorineural hearing loss on familiar speaker recognition: A forensic perspective on ageing

The main goal of this research was to discover the influence of high frequency sensorineural hearing loss on familiar speaker recognition during earwitnessing line-ups. The secondary objectives were to estimate the influence of familiarity with voices of the suspects on performance in the auditory speaker recognition test, and to correlate the results with forensically important factors such as a confidence scale from the line-up markings. The recordings from the line-up sessions were low-pass filtered to ensure an equal degree of signal distortion for all subjects and imitate the moderate, severe and profound hearing loss conditions. The results show that the correlation between mimicked hearing impairment and ability to identify a familiar speaker is statistically significant. It was observed that higher degree of signal distortion caused lower accuracy of recognition. Interestingly, it was reported that higher levels of familiarity and exposure to speakers’ voices had a negative effect on speaker identification.

Thank You for Being a Friend: A Peer-Learning Approach to Marketing Education

Peer learning, a pedagogical approach whereby students are partnered together to have one student actively help another student learn predetermined content or skills, has long been utilized as an effective complement to more traditional instructional methods across a wide range of educational disciplines. This approach has been found to reduce the stress of learning, increase student engagement, and yield benefits to both the tutor and the tutee to a roughly equal degree. Yet, pedagogical research to this point has mostly failed to explore the usefulness of this approach to marketing and sales education. In the present research, we examine the effectiveness of peer-learning applications in a sales context and discuss marketing educators' implications. More specifically, we assess college sales students’ perceptions of peer-learning role-play exercise and further examine whether peer-learning exercises can improve students’ abilities. The results indicate that peer-learning exercises are not only enjoyed by students but are capable of producing objective performance improvement for both introductory and advanced students.

Degree affinity number of certain \(2\)-regular graphs

This paper furthers the study on a new graph parameter called the degree affinity number. The degree affinity number of a graph \(G\) is obtained by iteratively constructing graphs, \(G_1,G_2,\dots,G_k\) of increased size by adding a maximal number of edges between distinct pairs of distinct vertices of equal degree. Preliminary results for certain \(2\)-regular graphs are presented.

Scar quality examination comparing titanium-coated suture material and non-coated suture material on flap donor sites in reconstructive surgery

Background Wound healing and scar quality after trauma are subject to impairment through excessive wound healing, chronic wound or even surgical site infections. Optimizing the process of scar formation and skin healing is crucial in virtually all fields of medicine. In this regard, we tested the possible usage and advantages of titanium coated suture material. Methods We performed a prospective observational cohort study including 30 patients who underwent soft tissue reconstruction. One half of the donor flap site was sutured with titanium coated suture material, while the other half was closed with non-coated sutures. Scar quality of the donor flap site was assessed by photographs and POSAS scores on days 2–5, 14, 42, 72 and 180 postoperatively. Results No difference between the titanium coated sutures and non-coated sutures was seen in the POSAS assessment, neither for the patient scale at 14, 42, 72 and 180 days, nor for the observer scale on the same dates. Comorbidities like diabetes, chronic renal failure and smoking as well as the BMI of each patient affected the wound healing process to an equal degree on both sides of the suture. Conclusions No difference between the titanium coated and non-titanium-coated suture material was seen in the POSAS assessment in regard to scar quality and wound healing. The titanium-coated suture material can be considered to be equally as effective and safe in all qualities as the non-titanium-coated suture material, even in patients with comorbidities. Clinical trial register This study is registered at the German Clinical Trials Register (DRKS) under the registration number DRKS00021767. (https://www.drks.de/drks_web/navigate.do?navigationId=trial.HTML&TRIAL_ID=DRKS00021767)

Scar quality examination comparing titanium coated suture material and non-coated suture material on flap donor sites in reconstructive surgery

Background Wound healing and scar quality after trauma are subject to impairment through excessive wound healing, chronic wound or even surgical site infections. Optimizing the process of scar formation and skin healing is crucial in virtually all fields of medicine. In this regard, we tested the possible usage and advantages of titanium coated suture material.METHODS We performed a prospective observational cohort study including 30 patients who underwent soft tissue reconstruction. One half of the donor flap site was sutured with titanium coated suture material, while the other half was closed with non-coated sutures. Scar quality of the donor flap site was assessed by photographs and POSAS scores on days 2-5, 14, 42, 72 and 180 postoperatively. RESULTS No difference between the titanium coated sutures and non-coated sutures was seen in the POSAS assessment, neither for the patient scale at 14, 42, 72 and 180 days, nor for the observer scale on the same dates. Comorbidities like diabetes, chronic renal failure and smoking as well as the BMI of each patient affected the wound healing process to an equal degree on both sides of the suture. CONCLUSIONSNo difference between the titanium coated and non-titanium-coated suture material was seen in the POSAS assessment in regard to scar quality and wound healing. The titanium-coated suture material can be considered to be equally as effective and safe in all qualities as the non-titanium-coated suture material, even in patients with comorbidities. Clinical Trial RegisterThis study is registered at the German Clinical Trials Register (DRKS) under the registration number DRKS00021767. (https://www.drks.de/drks_web/navigate.do?navigationId=trial.HTML&TRIAL_ID=DRKS00021767)