Informatisation of transport process using GPS navigation system

Nowadays, internal business processes are one of the crucial factors of firms’ competitive advantage achievement, which is becoming increasingly important, not only on local but also on global markets. Firms’ performance improvement depends to a large extent on its flexibility, adjustability and especially ability to manage internal business processes. Hence, use of information technology is among the fundamental elements of business process change, which not only improve competitiveness but also assure long term development and growth of the firm. For all these reasons, the main purpose of this article is firstly to establish that use of information technology is feasible in all industries, explain what possible obstacles for successful informatisation are, and which are major advantages after its implementation. Secondly, within theoretical aspect we present broaden view of informatisation in logistics, whilst practical example illustrates successful informatisation of transport process with adoption of GPS (Global Positioning System) in a transport firm. Furthermore, in this article we are also introducing a case study of three transport firms describing process flow before and after implementation identifying enhanced information quality, service quality and communication as a foremost advantages and achievements after informatisatio

Innovate to Eradicate:Refining Tuberculosis Drug Discovery through Zebrafish

Tuberculosis (TB) remains one of the oldest and most persistent infectious diseases, posing a significant global health challenge with over 10 million new infections annually. Despite the availability of treatments, the rise of drug-resistant strains underscores the urgent need for innovative therapeutics and refined drug discovery strategies. This thesis addresses these challenges by presenting new methodologies to enhance early-stage TB drug development. Chapter 1 provides a comprehensive overview of TB, its causative agents, and current drug discovery efforts. A significant challenge in this field is the difficulty of identifying in vitro active compounds that demonstrate efficacy in vivo. To bridge this translational gap, Chapter 2 reviews an in vivo zebrafish embryo infection model designed for the rapid evaluation of compound activity, discussing its advantages and limitations in antimicrobial drug screening. Chapter 3 illustrates the practical application of the zebrafish model in TB drug discovery through medium-throughput screening of 240 in vitro active compounds, of which only 14 exhibited activity in the zebrafish model, highlighting the importance of early in vivo assessment. Further characterization of one promising compound revealed its action on aspartyl tRNA synthetase (AspS) in mycobacteria, suggesting its potential as a novel protein synthesis inhibitor. In TB research, model organisms are often used for initial experiments due to biosafety concerns. Chapter 4 investigates the differential activity of two clinically used TB pro-drugs, ethionamide and isoniazid, in M. tuberculosis and its model organism, M. marinum. By engineering an M. marinum strain to enhance drug-activating enzyme expression, we adapted the susceptibility of M. marinum to be similar to that of M. tuberculosis. This engineered strain was further used for drug screening to identify several pro-drugs that would have been overlooked in traditional screenings with M. marinum. Chapter 5 focuses on identifying novel gyrase inhibitors that are selective for mycobacteria. Through a medicinal chemistry approach and the derivatization of known gyrase B inhibitors, we identified structural features that increase specificity for mycobacteria. Finally, Chapter 6 addresses the challenge of mycobacterial membrane permeability, which often presents a bottleneck for compounds to reach intracellular targets. We identified a compound that increases membrane permeability by targeting a novel drug target, Rv0164 (MMAR_0407). This chapter also emphasizes the significance of combination therapy, demonstrating that our new compounds can synergistically enhance the efficacy of existing antibiotics, thereby improving TB treatment strategies. In conclusion, this thesis presents optimized drug discovery strategies for the early phases of drug development, leading to the identification and validation of several new active compounds with potential for future therapeutic applications. The results are contextualized within existing literature in Chapter 7, illustrating the importance of ongoing research efforts for the global eradication of tuberculosis, as outlined by the WHO

Society of Mary: Marianists

The Society of Mary (Marianists) originated in France. This article traces the development of the religious community by looking at the lives of three founding members, the cultural and political influences that accompanied them, and their eventual focus on educational ministry

Key factors influencing consumer behaviour towards ar application in online fashion retail: a literature review

Virtual Try-Ons have recently emerged as a new type of augmented reality application aiming at personalising the customer’s online shopping experience and enabling the visualisation of unique value from the ownership of the product. As such, augmented reality has significantly impacted online fashion retail. The lack of sovereignty over personal data due to amplified data tracking represents an obstacle to the adoption of new technologies. This research explores how customers respond to virtual try-on features and analyses the trade-off between willingness to share personal data and the perceived added value to the shopping experience related to different types of products

Indirect Contact with Leaders: Context, Process and Social Influence

This thesis examines the influence that leaders can have on follower identification and engagement through the medium of indirect contact. Drawing upon a theoretical integration of the Social Identity Theory of Leadership and Intergroup Contact Theory, I tested whether and how leaders, through on-line, text-based and imagined forms of contact, can promote a shared identity and instil greater organizational identification. In Chapter 3, four experiments examined the impact of indirect contact on organizational identification by observing a video message of a leader either alone, or in the presence of other followers. In Chapter 4, three experiments tested whether leaders who communicated through emails, using either individualistic or collectivistic rhetoric, elicited different levels of organizational identification and turnover intention. Finally, in Chapter 5, I investigated whether or not imagined contact can be used as a pre-contact tool within the organizational context to enhance organizational identification via an imagined interaction with the leader, with or without other followers present. Here, additional variables such as interactional justice and trust were examined. Overall, the findings from these ten experiments did not reveal clear support for the tested hypotheses; however, a review of findings enabled the development of a new theoretical approach. Specifically, in Chapter 6, I propose that followers have a need for leader distinctiveness under certain conditions, and that under such conditions attempts to elicit greater closeness between leaders and followers will backfire. Predictions derived from this theory are discussed

Maternal Obesity and Incidence of Depression

Obesity is a national epidemic in the United States, which both directly and indirectly affects the social productivity of individuals, the American macro economy and individuals’ personal health and well being. Depression often interferes with an individual’s ability to work, sleep, study, eat, and enjoy life. A maternal state of both obesity and depression may cause serious adverse medical conditions in the mother’s child. Taking steps to treat depression and obesity are critical in the construct of modern medicine. This project yields results that have the potential to make treatment options better tailored, more efficient, effective and economically-sound for the obese, pregnant population. This study was conducted using a collaborative approach, combining retrospectively collected patient data from Syracuse University and SUNY Upstate Medical Center. Our data shows that morbid obesity is positively correlated with higher incidence of depression. This suggests that health care practioners should screen morbidly obese perinatal women for depression more frequently and assist these women in accessing psychological treatment and weight management options

How internal processes benefit from IT investments and therefore enhance company's competitiveness - A case study of Slovenian small and medium sized companies

In the paper we presented a case of how IT impacts business process change and how can this enhance competitiveness. The case deals with implementation of internal server for use of documentation exchange in Slovenian small and medium sized companies and provides a framework of key factors of followed changes in inter processes that enabled better competitive position of the organizations taking part of the study.publishersversionpublishe

ANALIZA SVETOVNIH-SISTEMOV IN FORMALIZEM V LITERARNI ZGODOVINI

Desetletje po Morettijevem predlogu oddaljenega branja svetovne literature kritike tega kulminirajo denimo v Holquistovi zavrnitvi oddaljenega branja v imenu jakobsonovske filologije. Oddaljeno branje se resda odpove natančnemu branju, ne pa tudi Jakobsonu. Formalni "skoki", ki jih Franco Moretti rekonstruira s pomočjo kvantitativnih analiz dolgega trajanja form, aktivirajo prav to, čemur Roman Jakobson pravi "poetska funkcija jezika". Še več, Jakobsona zanemarja ravno tisto zgodovinopisje, ki Morettijevo teorijo svetovne literature sooča z lokalnimi literarnimi dejstvi, ki naj bi zaslužila kanonizacijo. Te kritike prezrejo, da lahko teorijo ovrže le močnejša teorija, ne pa dejstva, in da utegne biti dobro izhodišče za to prav Morettijeva umestitev lokalnih dejstev v periferije, ki jih izkoriščajo kanonizirani centri, ne pa v sam kanon