Reduce Overhead Costs Research Articles

Non-grant microfinance, incentives and efficiency

ABSTRACTI show that charging interest on funds provided by donors or investors to microfinance institutions (MFIs) can increase efficiency, the total number of loans and borrower welfare, compared to grant or concessionary funding. In a setting in which MFIs supply costly non-contractible effort, putting a price or raising the price of loanable funds strengthens the MFIs’ incentives to put effort in credit administration or monitoring, to extend more loans, and/or reduce overhead costs. This theoretical result is robust to several variations of the benchmark model allowing for an endogenous lending rate, motivated MFIs and endogenous overhead costs.

Improving data workflow systems with cloud services and use of open data for bioinformatics research.

Data workflow systems (DWFSs) enable bioinformatics researchers to combine components for data access and data analytics, and to share the final data analytics approach with their collaborators. Increasingly, such systems have to cope with large-scale data, such as full genomes (about 200 GB each), public fact repositories (about 100 TB of data) and 3D imaging data at even larger scales. As moving the data becomes cumbersome, the DWFS needs to embed its processes into a cloud infrastructure, where the data are already hosted. As the standardized public data play an increasingly important role, the DWFS needs to comply with Semantic Web technologies. This advancement to DWFS would reduce overhead costs and accelerate the progress in bioinformatics research based on large-scale data and public resources, as researchers would require less specialized IT knowledge for the implementation. Furthermore, the high data growth rates in bioinformatics research drive the demand for parallel and distributed computing, which then imposes a need for scalability and high-throughput capabilities onto the DWFS. As a result, requirements for data sharing and access to public knowledge bases suggest that compliance of the DWFS with Semantic Web standards is necessary. In this article, we will analyze the existing DWFS with regard to their capabilities toward public open data use as well as large-scale computational and human interface requirements. We untangle the parameters for selecting a preferable solution for bioinformatics research with particular consideration to using cloud services and Semantic Web technologies. Our analysis leads to research guidelines and recommendations toward the development of future DWFS for the bioinformatics research community.

Long-term effects of amalgamating of upper secondary schools. A contribution to evaluation methodology

Amalgamating public organisations is one of the most used strategies for improving welfare production in the Western world. The reformers expect that merging units will facilitate scale advantages leading to reduced overhead costs and increased specialisation. However, these expectations are often dashed by evaluation studies. This gap between the great expectations held by the reformers, and the evidence collected by the evaluators can be explained by way of evaluation methodology. Too often, the evaluations are conducted too early. This article is based on a longitudinal case study, and demonstrates that the perceived effects of the amalgamating of upper-secondary schools can change dramatically in the course of time. One conclusion is that longitudinal studies have methodological limitations, but they should still be conducted more often in evaluation research.

ENTERPRISE FINANCING BY MEANS OF CORPORATE BONDS TOOLKIT

Introduction. In contrast to the markets of developed countries, forming characteristic risk premium investment bonds in emerging markets, is that the greatest effect on the risk premium on bonds in countries such factor provides market liquidity in general and specific securities in particular. The second most significant factor influencing the risk premium is the risk of changing interest rates. The risk of default of issuers in such countries is also quite high, but the component of creditworthiness is less significant factor in the combination of systematic risks. Due to low sovereign ratings of Ukraine, the credit ratings of bonds of all domestic issuers have a speculative level. Owing to this fact, all of them can be classified as highly risky and, accordingly, highly profitable (HighYield Bonds). Purpose. The aim of the article is to reduce deficits in the scientific and methodological provision of the use of corporate bonds instruments on the basis of determining the determinants of the premium for the risk of investing in them. Method (methodology). To achieve the goal and solve the problems, the following methods have been used: method of analysis and synthesis, method of comparison and generalization; method of empirical research and factor analysis; method of system approach and strategy. Results. The research of the determinants of the risk premium is important, first of all, from the point of view of substantiating the technologies of reducing the cost of enterprises to capital. The key causes of underdevelopment of the domestic corporate bond market have been determined. We have identified factors that influence the spread of profitability and the value of bonds. They are the risk of default of the issuer and the potential of the enterprise development (credit component); base interest rate and long-term interest rates on the financial market (interest rate component); liquidity of the capital market (component of liquidity); the level of inflation and the development of economic conditions; information risks. It has been determined that in order to reduce the risk of investments in corporate bonds, it is necessary to implement at the regulatory level a set of measures to reduce overhead costs and increase the reliability of investments. The introduction of a safety covenant system can be defrined as one of such measures.

The Utility of Mobile Application Technology to Analyze Efficiency And Improve Operational Performance in the Endoscopy Unit

Introduction: The principles of operations management and healthcare information technology (IT) may be used together to evaluate and enhance operational performance in endoscopy centers. Previously, our group published the largest publically available endoscopy unit analysis. This “time and motion” assessment was done via data collection using a paper chart flowsheet.(1) In this study, we aim to implement a mobile app software solution and test its ability to gather endoscopy unit data and analyze efficiency in the endoscopy unit. Ultimately, we hope to validate the use of a mobile app to analyze endoscopy unit efficiency in order to perform targeted operational interventions to reduce overhead cost savings. Methods: The study was conducted over a 5-week period at a UCLA outpatient community-based endoscopy center. Endoscopy unit staff members were each given an iPad device to input operational check points involving patient flow through the endoscopy unit in real time. A variety of performance metrics were tracked for efficiency, including the True Completion Time (TCT) (scheduled procedure start time to the time the patient exited the room post-procedure), on-time starts (endoscope entry occurring within10 minutes of the scheduled time of procedure), and mean delay (time from this 10-minute mark to endoscope entry) for all cases studied. Results: We analyzed 168 patients who underwent a total of 249 procedures during the study period [42 EGD, 154 Colonoscopy, 51 EGD+Colonoscopy, 2 Flexible Sigmoidoscopy]. A total of 5 endoscopists were included in the study. The TCT was 47 minutes and room turnover time was 10 minutes across all cases studied. Ninety three percent of procedures had on-time starts, with a mean delay of 2 minutes. The average procedure duration was 39 minutes. Conclusion: The use of mobile app technology is a feasible method to implement real-time tracking and management of operational efficiency in the endoscopy center. This technique of efficiency analysis offers potential advantages compared to paper charting including automation and the potential for real-time data analysis and workflow modifications. This software-based technology may facilitate the implementation of large-scale operational efficiency and process improvement projects aimed at enhancing workflow. (1)Kaushal, et al. “Using efficiency analysis and targeted intervention to improve operational performance and achieve cost savings in the endoscopy center.” Gastrointest Endosc 2014;79:637-45.Table 1: Average Time Benchmarks, all cases studiedFigure 1

A Model to Determine Optimal Composition of Production to Obtain Maximum Profit & Reduce Overhead Costs by Linear Programming

There are many factors which put emphasize on the importance of developing pharmaceutical industry such as human health, reduced rate of using medicines, improve healthcare to global level, influence of pharmaceutical industry on exchange market, creating job and etc. Growing improvements in production systems, appearance of mechanized systems and dynamic commercial markets have highlighted the requirements of planning. This study aims to provide a model for defining the optimal composition of production in Sobhan Darou Pharmaceutical Company to obtain maximum profits and reduce overhead costs by linear programming. Lingo application is applied to reach mentioned goals. The results showed that a mathematical planning model can be used to determine minimum of total costs and inventory control strategy. Using linear programming we can take into account all perceptible and imperceptible factors to have a choice, while output models only consider quantitative values. Another advantage of leaner programming is that it can calculate production weight and rate with a systematic method which increases the efficiency and helps to have a proper choice.

Why Best Buy's Dual Brand Strategy Failed in Canada

This study investigates how the U.S.-based consumer electronics retailer Best Buy implemented its dual brand strategy in Canada following its acquisition of Future Shop in 2001. The study examines the differentiations between the two brands (Best Buy and Future Shop) in four aspects: geographical adjacency, store operation, product offering, and price structure. The study reveals that Best Buy takes a spatial proximity approach to store development with both Best Buy and Future Shop stores at many locations. Yet, their big box stores have very similar product offerings and price structure. Limited forms of differentiation are observed in store operations; however, they are insufficient to avoid cannibalization. Although the dual brand strategy should not be viewed as the only cause of Best Buy Canada losing its competitive edge in the Canadian consumer electronics market, it is a factor that affects its ability to reduce overhead costs in competition with online retailers and has led Best Buy to abandon this strategy in Canada.

Fragmentation of wedge loaded tempered structural glass

A high-speed study of tempered glass fracture propagation is presented. Tempered glass is used worldwide both architecturally and in the automotive industry, often playing a role in structural integrity. To accurately predict the brittle failure of the structural elements, it is essential to study crack initiation and formation. Cracks were initiated using a concentrated force employing a steel wedge. To capture abrupt crack propagation, digital high-speed photography was used with 50,000 frames per second and $$180\times 132$$ pixels. A theoretical method based on fracture mechanics was developed and verified with experimental results. A correlation was found between the relative resistance of the specimens and the plate thickness. Which was explained by the difference in the tempered stress field between specimens. The fracture pattern close to the wedge started from a single crack which branched repeatedly after 0.6–0.8 cm, indicating a uniformly increasing energy release. Then using the governing fracture pattern and the stress field measured with a scattered light polariscope, a linear elastic fracture mechanics approach defined the energy release ratio. This parameter was found linearly dependent as a function of plate thickness. Applying this ratio as a known value, the fragment count standard (e.g. EN 12150-1:2000, Glass in building. Thermally toughened soda lime silicate safety glass. Definition and description, 2000) can be fine-tuned to be used not only for safety purposes but for thermal stress measurement as well. Thus, this could supplement the four point bending test [EN 1288-3:2000, Glass in building—determination of the bending strength of glass—Part 3: test with specimen supported at two points (four-point bending), 2000], where the effective tensile strength is measured only. Interestingly, the method developed could reduce overhead costs for companies by replacing the use of expensive machinery to measure stress in structural tempered glass elements.

The selection of firms based on productivity: different roles of entry and overhead cost

This paper investigates the different roles of entry cost and overhead cost in the productivity-based selection of firms into production. It also discusses the implications for the resource allocations of the aggregate economy. Using an analytically tractable model with entry and exit, we show that reducing entry cost will increase average firm productivity by encouraging more entries of firms, whereas reducing overhead cost will decrease it by adversely lowering the selection standard. From the perspective of improving the allocation of production resources, our findings suggest that the various policies designed to reduce the costs of setting up new businesses are more important than the policies designed simply to reduce operation costs.

Goodbye, Thank You, and Hello!

Change sometimes comes slowly, sometimes with astonishing speed. It has been a privilege to serve as the editor of The American Journal of Cosmetic Surgery (AJCS) for the past 7 years, and it’s hard to believe that it has been this long. The AJCS has been published by Allen Press for even longer. This issue represents the last installment of our long and fruitful partnership. Just as the American Academy of Cosmetic Surgery (AACS) has undergone profound changes in the last 2 years, moving from an internal management, physical office space model of internal association management to a virtual office run by a contractual management firm, so now will The Journal also be altering its structure. We are moving to SAGE Publications. This move, undertaken by our management team, transfers ownership of the journal to an independent, academic publisher responsible for more than 850 journals and 800 books across a spectrum of medical, scientific, business, humanities, and social science fields. In preliminary meetings with SAGE staff I have been impressed by their commitment to making The AJCS a distinguished resource for cosmetic surgery research and education. Plans include digitizing the entire back catalogue of the journal, open access to past and future articles, and creating a partnership with the AACS that will continue to ensure the integrity and value of the cosmetic surgery scientific enterprise. We will also be upgrading the details of our instructions to authors, establishing more comprehensive ethical guidelines in keeping with contemporary clinical research standards, and broadening the horizons of our contributors, reviewers, and readers. Allen Press has been a wonderful partner in the journal enterprise, and this departure is not about any fissures in our relationship, but rather is a not uncommon event in the publishing world. By shifting ownership of The AJCS to this larger multinational corporation, it is anticipated that we can enhance the reach and stature of the journal while at the same time reducing overhead costs for the AACS. Both are desirable outcomes in the increasingly fragmented and competitive world of scientific publishing. For the past couple of years my own inbox has received daily invitations to serve as editor of, reviewer for, or contributor to a new, self-proclaimed, “international” “worldwide” “open access” journal of some kind, increasingly narrow and specialized, or so broad as to be laughable, and most frequently built on a business model of “pay to publish,” where the authors are required to subsidize their publication. In this process, peer review is frequently minimal, negligible, or absent. Scientific or clinical standards of accuracy, precision, and trustworthiness are held to the lowest common denominator. The free flow of relevant, important, and valuable information is clogged by this sludge of valueless dreck. The entire enterprise of scientific publishing is currently undergoing a revolution. More “scientific” articles are published daily than were annually a few decades ago. Simultaneous publication, while still considered unethical, continues unabated. Plagiarism, outright fraud, and financially conflicted results are being published without proper references, acknowledgment of conflicts, or proper

Entrepreneurship and socioeconomic development

Purpose– The purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of public policies on engendering entrepreneurship and micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSME) development in Nigeria. Gaps in policies and factors that impede entrepreneurship and MSME development are identified and proposals are offered to address the impediments.Design/methodology/approach– A thorough review of the mainstream literature on entrepreneurship and MSME development is undertaken. This constitutes the reference point for identifying and reviewing specific public policies formulated and programs designed to stimulate entrepreneurial activities and facilitate MSME development. Data were obtained from federal government agencies. This paper contends that for public policies to accomplish their designed objectives of engendering entrepreneurship and MSME development, strategic realignments of various policy dimensions and programs are imperative.Findings– Misalignments occur when existing public policies in other domains are in conflict with policies to promote entrepreneurship and MSME development. Policy misalignments negate the profit motive of entrepreneurship; stifle business innovation and expansion; and contribute to survivalist mode of entrepreneurship in the country. This thwarts the public policy goals of creating jobs and alleviating poverty.Practical implications– Government needs to streamline current regulatory requirements and revamp tax policies to encourage entrepreneurs and MSMEs. Improvements in infrastructure (road networks, highways, power supply, and telecommunications) will significantly reduce overhead costs for entrepreneurs and help MSMEs to grow.Originality/value– The paper demonstrates that without strategic realignments of public policies to ensure consistency and coherency in various dimensions, efforts to promote entrepreneurship and MSME development will not yield positive results. Existing public policies and programs need to be brought into tight realignment with policies and regulations in other domains to galvanize entrepreneurial efforts.

Consolidating HIV testing in a public health laboratory for efficient and sustainable early infant diagnosis (EID) in Uganda.

Uganda introduced an HIV Early Infant Diagnosis (EID) program in 2006, and then worked to improve the laboratory, transportation, and clinical elements. Reported here are the activities involved in setting up a prospective analysis in which the Ministry of Health, with its NGO partners, determined it would be more effective and efficient to consolidate the initial eight-laboratory system for EID testing of HIV dried blood samples offered by two nongovernmental partners operating research facilities into a single well-equipped and staffed laboratory within the Ministry. A retrospective analysis confirmed that redesign reduced overhead cost per PCR test of HIV dried blood samples from US$22.20 to an average of $5. Along with the revamped system of sample collection, transportation, and result communication, Uganda has been able to vastly increase the HIV diagnosis of babies and engagement of them and their mothers in clinical care, including antiretroviral therapy. Uganda reduced turnaround times for results reporting to clinicians from more than a month in 2006 to just 2 weeks by 2014, even as samples tested increased dramatically. The next challenge is overcoming loss of babies and mothers to follow up.

Abolishing the Higher Education Research Excellence Framework (the REF)

New research from the IEA outlines the serious shortfalls of the REF scheme as a way to fund higher education. The Research Excellence Framework (REF) assesses the research generated by UK universities. Most recently conducted in 2014, it is used by the national higher education funding councils (HEFCE in England) to help in allocating Quality Research (QR) money. It is likely that the REF directly influences the distribution of less than £1.5 billion, representing between one fifth and one quarter of total government research funding (most of the rest being allocated by the Research Councils). Resources distributed according to REF criteria account for only around 4 per cent of the total turnover of the higher education sector and less than 0.2 per cent of government spending. The REF shows that most high-quality research is concentrated in a limited number of leading universities, which receive the bulk of government funding. Even amongst this group, the impact of the REF outcome is relatively minor. For example, at University College London, the funding allocated as a direct result of the REF accounts for significantly less than 6 per cent of university income. The REF uses significant resources and distorts resource allocation within the higher education sector away from teaching and knowledge dissemination. It involves the appraisal of nearly 200,000 pieces of research and significant bureaucratic costs within universities. The REF distorts the allocation of resources towards the particular type of research encouraged by the REF. The REF also raises academic salaries as universities seek to improve their REF ranking by hiring key academics who score highly on REF criteria and depriving competing universities of those key academics. Despite the relatively low levels of funding distributed as a result of the REF, universities allow their behaviour to be distorted by the process because, as a government-backed kitemark, a REF rating provides signals that are useful to universities from a marketing perspective. However, there is a wide range of other, much more effective, indicators of quality of higher education institutions. Furthermore, no other country conducts an exercise quite like the REF. In relation to research funding, the same – or better – result in terms of the allocation of funds could be achieved by different means. The REF no longer serves a useful purpose and should not be repeated. We should gradually move away from institution-based funding towards project-based funding via the Research Councils. Any remaining need to allocate research support to institutions, for instance for capital purposes, should rely on available metrics rather than the REF. More generally, there is a strong case for reducing the total amount of government subsidy for research and expecting universities to generate their own funds for research and scholarship or support it by reducing overhead costs.

Evaluation of Outsourcing Efficiency through Costs for its Use

Abstract By influence of globalization and by increasing competition are many enterprises forced in the present to perform a variety of activities, which are although not related to the main subject of their activities, but for some reason are necessary for business. The implementation of subsidiary services and auxiliary activities has increased the amount of overhead costs. The reaction to a difficult economic situation is just an effort to reduce overhead costs. Potential way of reducing overheads costs becomes the application of the outsourcing principles. This paper is focused on the detailed specification of costs associated with the use of outsourcing. Outsourcing priority task, in addition to the cost savings, is the transfer of risk to the service provider, with the ensuring and increasing the quality level of carried out activities. Practice has confirmed that the vision at a cost saving are often greater than it actually is. The problem seems to be that it is quite difficult to determine and know the extent of its costs for the implementation of outsourced processes and there is often forgotten to the level of additional costs for manage the outsourcing relationship. In the paper we paid attention to the draft of assessment of the outsourcing efficiency from the cost savings perspective to ensure the business supported processes.

Capability-oriented robot architecture for maritime autonomy

Advanced ocean systems are increasing their capabilities and the degree of autonomy more and more in order to perform more sophisticated maritime missions. Remotely operated vehicles are no longer cost-effective since they are limited by economic support costs, and the presence and skills of the human operator. Alternatively, autonomous surface and underwater vehicles have the potential to operate with greatly reduced overhead costs and level of operator intervention. This paper proposes an Intelligent Control Architecture (ICA) to enable multiple collaborating marine vehicles to autonomously carry out underwater intervention missions. The ICA is generic in nature but aimed at a case study where a marine surface craft and an underwater vehicle are required to work cooperatively. They are capable of cooperating autonomously towards the execution of complex activities since they have different but complementary capabilities. The architectural foundation to achieve the ICA lays on the flexibility of service-oriented computing and agent technology. An ontological database captures the operator skills, platform capabilities and, changes in the environment. The information captured, stored as knowledge, enables reasoning agents to plan missions based on the current situation. The ICA implementation is verified and early validated in simulations by means of a team of two above autonomous marine robots. This paper also presents architectural details and evaluation scenarios of the ICA, results of simulations from different maritime operations, and future research directions.

The Market-Discipline Effects of Subordinated Debt: Enhanced US Commercial Banking-Sector Efficiency and Stability

Using US commercial bank data over the period 2000 to 2008, we examine how the issuance of subordinated debt (SND) affects bank risk-taking and stability, efficiency, and deposit and loan growth rates. We identify the channels by which these effects occur and, using fixed- and random-effects models and system-GMM estimations, we provide evidence that supports these channels. As SND as a percentage of total liabilities rises, bank risk-taking falls. SNDs not only improve banks’ market discipline by directly reducing non-performing loans, but by leading to reduced overhead costs, and SNDs also boost banks’ efficiency and stability. Our results are robust under different model specifications and estimation methodologies.

Increasing Access to Care for Brazos Valley, Texas: A Rural Community of Solution

Compared with their urban counterparts, rural populations face substantial disparities in terms of health care and health outcomes, particularly with regard to access to health services. To address ongoing inequities, community perspectives are increasingly important in identifying health issues and developing local solutions that are effective and sustainable. This article has been developed by both academic and community representatives and presents a brief case study of the evolution of a regional community of solution (COS) servicing a 7-county region called the Brazos Valley, Texas. The regional COS gave rise to multiple, more localized COSs that implemented similar strategies designed to address access to care within rural communities. The regional COS, known as the Brazos Valley Health Partnership, was a result of a 2002 health status assessment that revealed that rural residents face poorer access to health services and their care is often fragmented. Their localized strategy, called a health resource center, was created as a "one-stop shop" where multiple health and social service providers could be housed to deliver services to rural residents. Initially piloted in Madison County, the resource center model was expanded into Burleson, Grimes, and Leon Counties because of community buy-in at each of these sites. The resource center concept allowed service providers, who previously were able to offer services only in more populous areas, to expand into the rural communities because of reduced overhead costs. The services provided at the health resource centers include transportation, information and referral, and case management along with others, depending on the location. To ensure successful ongoing operations and future planning of the resource centers, local oversight bodies known as health resource commissions were organized within each of the rural communities to represent local COSs. Through collaboration with local entities, these partnerships have been successful in continuing to expand services and initiating health improvements within their rural communities.

An analytic process model for selection of infectious waste management contractors

Infectious or bio-medical waste so far has not received its due attention. Hospitals in developing countries dispose large amounts of medical waste inefficiently, creating potential environmental hazards and increasing operational expenses, along with the Municipal Solid Waste (MSW). The hospitals lack objective criteria to select the most appropriate waste disposal firm and evaluate its performance, relying on their own subjective judgment and previous experiences. This paper presents an Analytic Network Process (ANP) methodology to objectively select infectious waste disposal contractors. The suggested methodology would reduce overhead costs and enhance medical waste management.

Fiscal decentralisation: a local solution to recovery from global recession

The main objective of this study is to urge national governments to ensure that local and regional governments are not disproportionately impacted by budget and fiscal reductions, arising from the economic and fiscal crises. The economic crisis that has led to a fiscal crisis in many countries has had controversial impact in the global economy. For instance, many local and regional governments are trapped between increased needs of citizens, growing demographic pressures, and minimal financial resources. Taking into consideration that local governments’ financial strength is always below that of national governments, the challenges faced are severe. However, this study recognises that local governments cannot always avoid significant budget reductions. The study also recognises that innovative ways of organising public services, aiming at reducing overhead costs, and preserving, as far as possible, the level and quality of services provided to citizens and communities need to be taken into consideration. The study argues that, successful change also depends on good planning and consultation even though this incurs up-front costs of transition. Moreover, good quality investments for local economic development for instance provide employment and help meet other economic, environmental and social objectives. The findings reveal that, trade related activities at local levels could be instrumental in facilitating economic growth and fighting economic crisis.

University of Virginia School of Medicine

University of Virginia School of Medicine