Search results for "Strategy"

A branch-and-cut algorithm for the Team Orienteering Problem

2017

The Team Orienteering Problem aims at maximizing the total amount of profit collected by a fleet of vehicles while not exceeding a predefined travel time limit on each vehicle. In the last years, several exact methods based on different mathematical formulations were proposed. In this paper, we present a new two-index formulation with a polynomial number of variables and constraints. This compact formulation, reinforced by connectivity constraints, was solved by means of a branch-and-cut algorithm. The total number of instances solved to optimality is 327 of 387 benchmark instances, 26 more than any previous method. Moreover, 24 not previously solved instances were closed to optimality.

Understanding brand strategy adoption by high tech SME managers

2014

Nutella vs Pan di Stelle: guerra di affetti, vasetti, biscotti

2020

In questo contributo si esamina un caso di concorrenza tra brand alimentari del mercato italiano, quello tra Ferrero Nutella e Mulino Bianco Pan di Stelle. In particolar modo viene esaminata la strategia di comunicazione da un punto di vista semiotico per il lancio e il posizionamento dei prodotti creme spalmabili e biscotti farciti.

On the origin and diversification of Podolian cattle breeds: testing scenarios of European colonization using genome-wide SNP data

2021

AbstractBackgroundDuring the Neolithic expansion, cattle accompanied humans and spread from their domestication centres to colonize the ancient world. In addition, European cattle occasionally intermingled with both indicine cattle and local aurochs resulting in an exclusive pattern of genetic diversity. Among the most ancient European cattle are breeds that belong to the so-called Podolian trunk, the history of which is still not well established. Here, we used genome-wide single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) data on 806 individuals belonging to 36 breeds to reconstruct the origin and diversification of Podolian cattle and to provide a reliable scenario of the European colonization, throug…

Adaptive treatment of anemia on hemodialysis patients: A reinforcement learning approach

2011

The aim of this work is to study the applicability of reinforcement learning methods to design adaptive treatment strategies that optimize, in the long-term, the dosage of erythropoiesis-stimulating agents (ESAs) in the management of anemia in patients undergoing hemodialysis. Adaptive treatment strategies are recently emerging as a new paradigm for the treatment and long-term management of the chronic disease. Reinforcement Learning (RL) can be useful to extract such strategies from clinical data, taking into account delayed effects and without requiring any mathematical model. In this work, we focus on the so-called Fitted Q Iteration algorithm, a RL approach that deals with the data very…

Exploring the Role of Informants in Interpretive Case Study Research in IS

2011

Interpretive case study research constitutes an important and increasing part of the information systems (IS) knowledge base (Walsham, 1993; Myers, 1997; Pare and Elam, 1997; Walsham, 2006). Interpretive case studies can be distinguished from positivist case study research (Benbasat et al., 1987; Lee, 1989; Dube and Pare, 2003) by the focus on close interaction between researcher and participants throughout the case study process, viewing the case members as active participants in the construction of the case narrative (Boland, 1985; Guba and Lincoln, 1989; Kvale, 2002). However, while the interpretivist perspective ascribes an active role to the case study informants, in practice the exten…

Economic Diversification and Empowerment of Local Human Resources: Could Singapore Be a Model for the GCC Countries?

2018

This chapter analyses the similarities and differences between the GCC and Singapore with regard to economic diversification strategies. The key for a successful and, thus, sustainable diversification process for the GCC is to reduce the high dependence of the economic revenues away from the hydrocarbon sector. However, an ongoing concern is the continuing need of high foreign workforce that collides with the demands for greater employment opportunities for national citizens. The challenges of those nationalisation strategies will be examined at the example of the Sultanate of Oman.

Development of Beach Litter Monitoring on the Latvian Coastline: the Citizen Science Perspective

2021

The research analyses the beach litter monitoring programme in Latvia and provides suggestions for its improvement seeking to provide necessary information for effective marine litter management on the Latvian coastline of the Baltic Sea. The beach litter monitoring programme has been enacted since 2012 by NGO “FEE Latvia” and current research has been focused on the situation assessment and particularly provides analyses on a number and distribution of the surveyed beaches, the frequency and timing of the monitoring, litter classification and counting methodology, as well as the possible programme development using the NGO work based on the citizen science approach. The results allow to el…

Website quality and internal business factors: An empirical investigation in the Italian wine industry

2016

Purpose The purpose of this paper is dual. The first is to assess the quality of websites of Italian wineries, using the Web Assessment Index (WAI), and compare e-commerce and e-marketing websites. The second is to verify the existence of a relationship between the website quality and business revenue, on one hand, and the characteristics of managers, on the other. Design/methodology/approach A two-step survey was carried out to respond to the aims of the study. First, a sample of wineries was contacted to capture information on both the wineries and managerial characteristics. On the basis of the observed data, a second step of the analysis was performed taking into consideration 84 winer…

Cyber Security Strategy Implementation Architecture in a Value System

2018

In this chapter, we introduce an approach toward enhancing the quality of strategy implementation. As a framework, we use cybersecurity strategy implementation planning and execution. Justification for this work is the observed need to be able to perform strategy readjustment processes quickly and in an agile way, when needed. This requires processes and practices that are simple enough and executable with small resources in a relatively short timeframe. The problem statement can be formulated as follows: “We need to determine an utterly simplified, noncomplicated model to help us to tackle the complex problem of implementing a cybersecurity strategy of adequate efficiency in a changing ope…