Organizational Components That Explain the Strategic Direction of SMEs for a New World Economic Order

This chapter aims to show some concepts related to the importance of planning and strategic direction as a fundamental tool for the sustainability of Colombian SMEs for a new world economic order and present the proportionality relationship between this concept of strategic management and the organizational components. Keys that explain it and facilitate its development, considering the modernization model for managing organizations (MMOM), were developed by a group of researchers from the EAN University in Bogotá-Colombia. It was found that market management, organizational culture, organizational structure, and knowledge and innovation management are the components that a high percentage explain the strategic direction of this type of company on which priority improvement and innovation activities should be developed in such a way ways that allow strategies to develop more smoothly to achieve business objectives of effectiveness, efficiency, profitability, and sustainable development.

Multi-scale semi-analytical model for fatigue life prediction of trans-tibial prosthetic sockets

The trans-tibial socket is an essential component of the prosthesis that connects it to the residual limb. Socket misalignments and permanent deformations reduce the comfort of the amputee. In order to forestall such issues, sufficient information about the socket lifespan needs to be acquired, which is fairly difficult given the lack of calculation methods that estimate the fatigue life in the literature. In this paper a semi-analytical model is proposed based on experimental results. It highlights the effects of the amputee average daily walking time on the socket fatigue life. A proportionality relationship is demonstrated linking the Burgers model parameters at the structural scale to those at the macroscopic scale. Hence, it becomes possible to evaluate the permanent deformation that induces a misalignment in the socket. These results are useful for the designers to predict the fatigue life of the socket, and also for clinicians to monitor the mechanical degradation of the trans-tibial socket and schedule maintenance or replacement.

The rank boost by inconsistency in university rankings: Evidence from 14 rankings of Chinese universities

University ranking has become an important indicator for prospective students, job recruiters, and government administrators. The fact that a university rarely has the same position in different rankings motivates us to ask: To what extent could a university’s best rank deviate from its “true” position? Here we focus on 14 rankings of Chinese universities. We find that a university’s rank in different rankings is not consistent. However, the relative positions for a particular set of universities are more similar. The increased similarity is not distributed uniformly among all rankings. Instead, the 14 rankings demonstrate four clusters where rankings are more similar inside the cluster than outside. We find that a university’s best rank strongly correlates with its consensus rank, which is, on average, 38% higher (towards the top). Therefore, the best rank usually advertised by a university adequately reflects the collective opinion of experts. We can trust it, but with a discount. With the best rank and proportionality relationship, a university’s consensus rank can be estimated with reasonable accuracy. Our work not only reveals previously unknown patterns in university rankings, but also introduces a set of tools that can be readily applied to future studies.

“Necklaces”: A Didactic Sequence for Missing-Value Proportionality Problems

This research presents a sequence of didactic situations involving a proportionality relationship in which every value in a set (a number of necklaces) is mapped to a pair, a triad, or a quartet of values (numbers of blue beads, red beads, green beads, etc., required to make that number of necklaces) from another set. The sequence includes relatively simple multiplication and division problems, as well as more complex “missing-value” problems. This paper also presents the results of applying the sequence with a group of 4th grade students in a Mexican primary school (9 and 10 years old).

Estimation of Adult Human Height from the Bigonial Width and Mandibular Arch

Introduction An individual's sex, age and height are of great importance in legal medicine, especially with regard to identifying corpses. Height estimates are based on the proportionality relationship that exists between an individual's height and his various body parts. Objective To analyze the relationship between mandible measurements (length of the mandibular arch and bigonial width) and height. Materials and methods This study was conducted on the population of the Mussuca quilombo settlement, which is in the municipality of Laranjeiras, state of Sergipe, Brazil. The sample was composed of 300 individuals: 150 women and 150 men aged between 18 and 85 years old. The statistical analysis was done using the Statistical Package for the Social Scienes SPSS®, version 19.0, for Windows (SPSS Inc., Chicago, EUA) and Excel 2010 (Microsoft Corp., Redmond, WA, USA). Results The correlation coefficients were found to be low, with weak correlations between the measurements of the mandibula and height. Analysis on these values shows a very small positive correlation between height and the length of the mandibular arch among males (r = 0.177; p < 0.05) and among females (r = 0.271; p = 0.001); and between height and bigonial width among females (r = 0.169; p < 0,05). Conclusion Height may be estimated less exactly in cases in which only cephalofacial dimensions are available for legal medical examination.

SDO/HMI observations of the average supergranule are not compatible with separable flow models

Aims. Despite extensive studies carried out since its discovery half a century ago, the nature of supergranulation remains an open question in solar physics. Separability of flow models is a common assumption made in the literature to shed light on the properties of supergranules. This paper studies the ability of separable mass-conserving flow models to reproduce photospheric observations from the Helioseismic Magnetic Imager (HMI) on board of the Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) spacecraft corresponding to an average supergranule. Methods. For a steady mass-conserving separable flow model to be compatible with the observations, there is an integral relation between the horizontal and vertical components of the flow. We test this relation directly on observations and compare the results with the proportionality relationship for a separable model. Results. Observations of an average supergranule do not satisfy the condition for separability. Selecting a narrower range of horizontal scales of supergranules when performing the average does not change this result. Separable models are not consistent with observations of an average supergranule.

Deese hypothesis corrected

In 1959 Deese published work on two hypotheses. The first one, that the probability of free recall intrusions is proportional to the mean association strengths of these intrusions to the presented lists, was found to be true and published in Journal of Experimental Psychology. The second one, attempted to extend this relationship to correct recalls but he believed it to have failed and published this failure in the little read Psychological Reports.Here I hypothesize that the Deese proportionality relationship between the probability of free recall intrusions and their item-item association strengths may actually be correct if we use the post-study association strengths. I test this “Deese-Tarnow” relation indirectly by inferring the increase in studied item-item association strengths in Deese’s experiment and if I use the same constant of proportionality as for the intrusions, I find a reasonable learning curve: increases are largest for word lists with the smallest pre-study and vice versa.If this corrected hypothesis turns out to be true, it would imply that there is no difference in short term memory between correct and incorrect free recall other than the inter-item association strengths: short term memory “truth” would seem to not exist.Experimental predictions are given.

Global Positioning System Confirmation of a Contradiction between Einstein’s Predictions of Time Dilation and Remote Non-Simultaneity: Failure of the Lorentz Transformation

Time dilation and remote non-simultaneity are two of the most famous predictions derived from the Lorentz transformation. As a simple example, consider two lightning strikes which occur at different positions in space. According to Einstein’s special theory, the time differences Δt and Δtꞌ measured by two observers between the two strikes must satisfy a strict proportionality relation (time dilation): Δtꞌ=XΔt. However, it is also claimed, by virtue of the corresponding prediction of remote non-simultaneity, that the two events can occur simultaneously for one of them (Δt=0) without doing so for the other (Δtꞌ≠0). It is pointed out that it is impossible to satisfy both of the above conditions because that would mean having to violate the algebraic axiom which states that multiplication of any finite number, in this case X, by zero (Δt) must have a product (Δtꞌ) of zero as well. Only by violating this axiom is it possible to avoid a direct contradiction of the prediction of remote non-simultaneity. As a result, the Lorentz transformation itself is shown to be invalid since it is responsible for both of the above predictions. A different space-time transformation is therefore presented which also satisfies both of Einstein’s postulates of relativity without requiring that space and time be mixed. The Hafele-Keating experiments with atomic clocks carried onboard circumnavigating airplanes confirm that time dilation is a real effect, but they also show that the prediction of Einstein’s theory that observers can disagree in principle which of two clocks runs slower is not correct. The Global Positioning System makes use of the observed proportionality relationship between elapsed times to adjust the rates of atomic clocks carried onboard its satellites so that they run at the same rate as identical clocks located on the earth’s surface. This practice also serves as a confirmation that remote non-simultaneity has no basis in fact. Otherwise, it would make no sense to have the two clocks running at the same rate in order to measure elapsed times for laser beams to travel between the satellite and the ground position.

Assessment of Aqueous Lithium-based Salt Solutions as Working Fluid for Absorption Chillers using Aspen Plus

Absorption chillers are a viable option for providing waste heat-powered coolingor refrigeration, thereby improving overall energy efficiency-less primary energy input,lower emissions, and cost savings. This study focuses on the assessment of aqueouslithium-based salt solutions as working fluid for absorption chiller in exploring thepossibility of developing new mixtures for absorption chillers to improve the performanceof the absorption refrigeration systems (ARSs). In this paper, the coefficient ofperformance (COP) of a single-effect absorption chiller using aqueous lithium-based saltsolutions (LiF-H2O, LiCl-H2O, LiBr-H2O, and LiI-H2O) as working fluid was assessed usingAspen Plus®. The simulation results obtained showed that the mass and energy were wellbalanced for all systems. Furthermore, a direct proportionality relationship between COPof absorption chillers and the van't Hoff factor, i of dissociated aqueous salt solutions wasobserved. The highest COP value is 0.8930 for LiI-H2O among others.

Influence of Hydroxypropyl Methylcellulose on Flowing and Swelling Parameters in Biomucoadhesive Tablets with Miconazole Nitrate

Original pharmaceutical formulations have been produced as oral biomucoadhesive tablets for antifungal medication. They have been obtained through direct compression using as matrix forming polymers various sorts of hydroxypropyl methylcellulose. The main goal of the study was determining the swelling index of the new mucobioadhesive formulations with miconazole nitrate in order to correctly evaluate the time of contact with mucosa, and the prolongation of drug release. For each formulation, the flowing parameters have been determined: flowing time, friction coefficient, repose angle, Haussner ratio, Carr index, and the swelling index for 6 formulations containing various sorts of hydroxypropyl methylcellulose as matrix molders, while the formulation variables studied were time and association ratio between those polymers. Though results analysis, we noticed that the values of the swelling index depended on the type and quantity of polymer, results that could also be explained by the proportionality relationship to flowing and compressibility parameters.