Pharmaceutical value chain: opportunities for outsourcing

Industry value chains take important place in the architecture of the global economy. In recent years, cross-border pharmaceutical value chains have been actively developing, the formation of which took place both through offshoring and outsourcing processes under the control of Big Pharma companies, which keep leading positions in the pharmaceutical markets. The study evaluates the possibilities of outsourcing, as well as identifies its features at various stages of the pharmaceutical chain. The multistage pharmaceutical chain, as well as its high degree of its modularity, have created favourable opportunities for outsourcing at every stage, from the lower stage of retail sales to the upper stage of RD. This is so-called bottom - up outsourcing. An increase in costs and a decrease in the efficiency of the entire pharmaceutical chain, caused by the complication of the development and production of drugs, led to a crisis in pharmaceutical innovation. Outsourcing allowed to partially solve arisen problems, increase the productivity of the chain and distribute financial risks, which has led to the emergence of contract organizations that have taken over the implementation of certain pharmaceutical services (contract development and manufacturing, sales, packaging, research organizations). The pharmaceutical RD market was one of the last to get involved in outsourcing processes, due to the fact, that Big Pharma, which manage outsourcing processes, on the one hand, strives to expand outsourcing in order to improve the efficiency of the pharmaceutical chain, and, on the other hand, are very wary of it, since they want to retain ownership and control over their key competencies, which in the case of outsourcing is not always possible.

DESIGNING AN UPPER STAGE STEERING SYSTEM FOR A FORMULA FSAE CAR

The objective of this work is to design an upper stage steering system for the Formula FSAE car “Omega” that will effectively translate driver input force to the rack and pinion. The system consists of a steering wheel, steering shafts, universal joints, a quick release mechanism, and connection points to the car. Critical loads have been determined, and the final design has been validated using finite element analysis to ensure the safety of the assembly during normal operation and worst-scenario cases. The design key factors were performance, weight, cost, ergonomics, maintainability, manufacturability and reliability.

Modelling Regime Changes of Dunes to Upper-Stage Plane Bed in Flumes and in Rivers

In this paper we derive a new morphological model, with an extended version of the sediment transport model for the mean step length (the average distance travelled by sediment particles), in which this mean step length depends on the mean bed shear stress. This model makes the step length increase with increasing flow, in line with previous experimental results. To account for suspension and the large-scale turbulent structures in rivers, the step length also depends explicitly on water depth. This approach enabled modelling of the transition from dunes to the upper-stage plane bed. It was shown that by increasing the step length, the lag between shear stress and bed load transport rate increases, and the dunes eventually become smoother and lower, until finally the dunes wash out. The newly adopted model approach is tested successfully with a synthetic data set from the literature, where plane bed conditions are indeed reached in the model, similar to the results of a more advanced model. It is shown that with increasing discharge, the flow increases, which leads to higher step length and to the washing out of the dunes. Although the present model still overestimates the dune height for river cases, the potential of the model concept for river dune dynamics, including the transition to upper-stage plane bed, is shown. The model results indicate that, if a transition to upper-stage plane bed occurs in a realistic river scenario, a reduction of the water depth of approximately 0.5 m can occur.

Influence of non-gravitational effects on the Centaur upper stage of the Surveyor 2 spacecraft

A small near-Earth asteroid, discovered by the Panoramic Survey Telescope and Rapid Response System (Pan-STARRS) on September 17, 2020, turned out to be a part of the Centaur upper stage of the Surveyor 2 spacecraft launched by NASA on September 20, 1966 and subsequently crashed. This object had moved in a heliocentric orbit until it was under the influence of Earth’s gravitational field. As a result, a close approach to the Earth took place at a distance of about 50000 km on December 1, 2020. Despite the fact that the Centaur escaped back into a new orbit around the Sun in March 2021, it is of special interest for research, in particular, to consider the impact of non-gravitational effects on its orbital characteristics. Thus, it was calculated that the maximum displacement of the object trajectory due to the influence of solar radiation pressure over 15 years (the next close approach will take place in 2036) can be about 10.3-13.5 km, depending on the albedo. Estimations of the Yarkovsky effect showed that the magnitude of the expected change in the semi-major axis of Centaur’s orbit is from -8.1 • 10−13 to 1.6 10−13, depending on the angle of its rotation.

Upper Stage Visual Inertial Integrated Navigation Method Based on Factor Graph

In the working process of the upper stage integrated navigation information fusion system, the multi-source navigation information fusion algorithm based on factor graph Bayesian estimation is used to fuse the information of inertial sensors, visual sensors and other sensors. The overall joint probability distribution of the system is described in the form of probability graph model with the dependence of local variables, so as to reduce the complexity of the system, adjust the data structure of information fusion to improve the efficiency of information fusion and smoothly switch the sensor configuration.

Unusual asteroid 2020 SO: astrometric investigation of the American rocket booster that returned to near-Earth space

In the frame of this study astrometric observations of an unusual object 2020 SO - a newly discovered asteroid that turned out to be a Centaur upper-stage booster from 1960s - during its two close approaches to the Earth in December, 2020 and February, 2021 were carried out using two telescopes of Pulkovo observatory. The orbit of the object in question was determined and its future orbital evolution was modelled.

Brachiopods from the Latham Shale Lagerstätte (Cambrian Series 2, Stage 4) and Cadiz Formation (Miaolingian, Wuliuan), California

A moderately diverse assemblage of brachiopods from the Latham Shale Lagerstätte (Cambrian Series 2, upper Stage 4) and the upper Cadiz Formation (Miaolingian, Wuliuan), California is described in detail for the first time. The fauna includes both linguliform and rhynchonelliform brachiopods—Hadrotreta primaea (Walcott, 1902), Paterina prospectensis (Walcott, 1884), Dictyonina pannula (White, 1874), and Mickwitzia occidens Walcott, 1908; and Nisusia fulleri Mount, 1981 and Wimanella highlandensis (Walcott, 1886), respectively—together with olenellid trilobites and hyolithids. The fauna differs from other Cambrian Konservat-Lagerstätten (notably Cambrian Series 2 Chengjiang and Guanshan Lagerstätten, eastern Yunnan) in that the brachiopod shell valves in many cases are still preserved with their original mineralization. Moreover, the excellently preserved shale-hosted valves even include cases with exquisite epithelial cell molds, otherwise only seen in acid-etched material from carbonate rocks. The pitted ornamentation in D. pannula closely resembles that described from Ordovician linguliforms. The unusual preservation of N. fulleri provides important clues for ancestral composition of the brachiopod shell. The two articulated rhynchonelliform species probably represent the oldest records of this group from the west Laurentia. The fauna could also represent the earliest onset of the transition from the Cambrian Evolutionary Fauna (CEF) to the Paleozoic Evolutionary Fauna (PEF).