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This paper examines blockchain technology and food waste management in the hospitality industry. Food waste prevention is an important issue for hotels, as food consumption is difficult to estimate, often leading to huge amounts of waste. Food waste occurs at each stage of the food supply chain and represents a big percentage of hospitality waste. Although many studies examine the difficulties of food waste management, only a limited number of studies examine the stages of food waste inside food supply chains. The coordination of food supply chains can be supported by blockchain technology, which can break the supply chain into smaller parts and help managers to better mitigate food control. To address these issues, this paper conducts an extensive literature review, firstly to clarify the concept of food waste management in the hospitality industry and secondly to examine the benefits of the use of blockchain technology in food supply chains. Combining the obtained knowledge, this study aims to analyze the relationship between blockchain and food waste management practices. It also aims to examine how this combination boosts hotels to increase their performance and gain customers’ loyalty. Therefore, this paper analyses food waste management in the hospitality industry makes propositions on how blockchain technology could support food waste management in the food supply chain and forms the base for future research. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.

Modern economy faces one of its’ greatest challenges of all times and disruptive innovations are available to corporations as solutions to major business drawbacks (e.g., traceability, communication, data exchange, information modelling etc.). The Maritime Industry combines multiple supply chain stakeholders and operations, globally, generating critical data and exchanging important documents. Mostly, these are paper-based and proprietary. For this industry, digitally exchanged data, must be unambiguous, semantically aligned between trading partners and shared with resilience in real-time using a common operational language. This could be achieved through the prominent from Bitcoin Cryptocurrency Blockchain Technology as a digital verification mechanism complying with global identification, technical and data exchange standards. Acknowledging the difficulties faced in the Maritime Business Operations’ Management, this paper examines the strategic impact of Standards and Blockchain Technology in the industry’s processes.

In an era where environmental and social pressures on companies are increasing, sustainable supply chain management is essential for the efficient operation and survivability of the organizations (members of the chain). Digital transformation and the adoption of new technologies could support the development of sustainable strategies, as they support supply chain processes, decrease operational costs, enable control and monitoring of operations and support green practices. The purpose of this paper is to explore the relationship between sustainable supply chain management and digital transformation through the adoption of specific technologies (Blockchain technology, big data analytics, internet of things). It aims at theory building and the development of a conceptual framework, enabling the explanation of under which circumstances the above combination could lead to the development of sustainable performances. It also aims to examine how companies can increase their competitive advantage and/or increase their business performance, contributing both to academics and practitioners. After conducting a literature review analysis, a significant gap was detected. There are a few studies providing theoretical approaches to examining all three pillars of sustainability, while at the same time analyzing the impact of big data analytics, internet of things and blockchain technology on the development of sustainable supply chains. Aiming to address this gap, this paper primarily conducts a literature review, identifies definitions and theories used to explain the different pillars of flexibility, and examines the effect of different technologies. It then develops a theoretical conceptual framework, which could enable both academics and practitioners to examine the impact of the adoption of different technologies on sustainable supply chain management. The findings of this research reveal that digital transformation plays an important role to companies, as the combination of different technologies may lead to the development of significant capabilities, increasing sustainable performances and enabling the development of sustainable strategies, which can improve companies’ position in the market.

To procure products and materials in the context of modern, convoluted supply chains, companies need to consider a variety of available options regarding trading partners, products, materials and s...

The fast changing business environment and the intensive market competition forces firms to adjust and remodel their business strategy continuously. As a solution, firms seek flexibility, not only ...

Supply chain event management exploits synergies between IT and logistics and refers to the set of methods and technologies used to efficiently integrate events from all actors and processes of the supply chain. In the context of supply chain event management, we examine how events can be used to leverage situation awareness. In our approach, situation awareness is facilitated by providing the capability to detect situations, which are represented as correlations between simple events, complex events and supply chain objects (e.g., suppliers, 3PL companies, retailers and material resources). We introduce a two-phase event correlation method which first correlates simple events into complex events and then events with supply chain objects. We describe how the proposed model has been implemented in a software framework and we conduct evaluation tests to examine its situation detection capabilities.

Sustainability, information systems (IS), and sustainable supply chain management (SSCM) are the main research areas of this study. In an era where environmental and social responsibility is becoming increasingly more important, SSCM is very significant for the survivability and competitiveness of organizations. Information systems may facilitate sustainable practices, as they support supply chain processes, decrease costs, and enable the control and monitoring of operations. The aim of this research is to explore the relationship between information systems and SSCM and explain under what circumstances they could lead to competitive advantage or increase internal business performance. To analyze the above, the methodology comprises a literature review enabling the understanding and conceptualization of the main research constructs and revealing the gaps of previous research. It also comprises qualitative research based on a single-case study allowing an in-depth examination of the subject of study. The findings reveal that the use of information systems, combined with strong interorganizational relationships and collaboration, can support SSCM practices. They can bring important business advantages, such as improved business performance and increased customer loyalty, but not necessarily competitive advantage. The results of this research show that SSCM is a promising field of study, with prospects for future research.

Objectives To prospectively assess the diagnostic performance of echocardiographic measurements before spinal anesthesia in elderly patients undergoing lower limb surgery. Emphasis was placed on the dIVCmax-to-IVCCI ratio and IVCCI, where dIVCmax was the maximum diameter of inferior vena cava (IVC) at expiration and IVCCI was the collapsibility index of IVC. Design Open cohort, prospective, single-center study. Setting University hospital. Interventions A transthoracic echocardiography examination was performed in 70 patients before spinal anesthesia under standard criteria and protocol. Patients with intraoperative mean arterial pressure ≤65 mmHg or ≥25% reduction of its preoperative baseline were considered hypotensive. Measurements and Main Results Preoperative echocardiographic measurements, including IVCCI, dIVCmax-to-IVCCI, ejection fraction, global longitudinal peak systolic strain, tricuspid annular plane systolic excursion, ratio of peak velocity flow in early diastole and average of peak velocities in early diastole of lateral and septal mitral annulus, stroke volume index, and left ventricle mass index were assessed. Twenty-eight of 70 patients manifested spinal-induced hypotension. Preoperative dIVCmax-to-IVCCI showed the greatest diagnostic performance among the indices. dIVCmax-to-IVCCI 0.3 (p = 0.032). Multiple logistic regression analysis revealed that the best predictors for spinal-induced hypotension were the dIVCmax-to-IVCCI ratio and age. Conclusions The preoperative dIVCmax-to-IVCCI ratio can predict spinal-induced hypotension greater than IVCCI and other echocardiographic measurements in elderly patients. Both dIVCmax-to-IVCCI ratio and patient age can act as predictors of spinal-induced hypotension in elderly patients.

Objective. The aim of the present preliminary study was to assess whether the sternomental distance ratio (SMDR) could be suitable as a predictor of difficult laryngoscopy, in both normal surgical patients and patients scheduled to undergo thyroid tumor surgery. Methods. Two hundred and twenty-one consecutive adult patients (among them 122 patients with presumed normal airways and 33 patients with thyroid tumors), scheduled to undergo elective surgery under general anesthesia, were included in this study. Physical and airway characteristics, SMDR, difficult laryngoscopy (using Cormack-Lehane scale) and any kind of assisted intubation were assessed. Results. Decreased SMDR demonstrated a strong correlation with difficult laryn­goscopy in both thyroid tumor (Kendall’s tau-b -0.578 (P=0.004) and normal patients -0.362 (P1.9 and 33% at SMDR Conclu­sions. Α SMDR>1.9 indicates an easy laryngoscopy, whereas SMDR

Background: No single test has shown to be an accurate predictor of difficult laryngoscopy. Aims: This study aims to evaluate the effectiveness of the ratio of the sternomental distance (SMD) in neutral and full neck extension position SMD ratio (SMDR) as a predictor of difficult laryngoscopy and any need of assisted intubation. Settings and Design: Prospective, double-blind pilot study. Materials and Methods: This study included 221 consecutive adult patients scheduled to undergo elective surgery under general anesthesia. Physical and airway characteristics, SMDR, difficult laryngoscopy (using Cormack/Lehane [C/L] scale), and any kind of assisted intubation were assessed. Statistical Analysis: The optimal cutoff point for SMDR was identified using receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis. The association between SMDR and the intubation method was evaluated through multiple logistic regression analysis. Results: A SMDR below 1.55 led in 33% of the cases to assisted intubation and 33%–53% of C/L III–IV glottic views for McCoy and Macintosh blades, respectively. On the other hand, SMDR above 1.9 led to no C/L IV glottic views for both blades and 4% and 11% C/L III views glottic views for McCoy and Macintosh, respectively. The best sensitivity and specificity cutoff point as defined by the ROC curve was identified for an SMDR value of 1.7 (area[s] under the curve: 0.815; 95% confidence interval: 0.743–0.887). Assisted intubation rates were significantly higher in patients with an SMDR inferior to 1.7 (30.5% compared to 3.5%, P < 0.001). Conclusions: SMDR is a simple, objective, and easy to perform test. The present study indicates that SMDR may be helpful in predicting difficult laryngoscopy and assisted intubation.

The provision of information in electronic form and its network distribution simplifies the process of searching and retrieval while enabling remote access. The electronic material, though, is not provided for free. Electronic publishers organise and distribute their material to library subscribers according to contracts. Thus, management is not limited to storage, cataloguing and retrieval but it also encompasses security, access control management and copyright clearance. An architecture and the relevant procedures enabling library subscribers access to the electronic publishers' content are presented in this article.

It is often argued that inter-organisational systems (IOS) can increase organisational flexibility. A Continuous Replenishment Program (CRP) is an EDI-based IOS that aims to match product flow with consumer demand, yielding improvements in inventory management and logistics. Our aim is to understand not only how the use of CRP affects the complex notion of flexibility, but also how organisational and inter-organisational issues influence the impact of this technology. Flexibility is, thus, examined not only as a characteristic of an individual firm, but also as a property of the interaction between firms. Flexibility is also perceived as a dynamic characteristic changing over time, influenced by the organisational and interorganisational context. A case study of a grocery retail supply chain forms the basis of our research.

The objective of this paper is to clarify the complex notion of flexibility and to explore the impact of inter-organisational information systems (IOS) on the flexibility of the interaction between organisations. Based on previous research and on Vickers’s appreciative systems thinking, the paper examines flexibility as a multidimensional concept, influenced by the inter-organisational context. Following an interpretive approach and a multiple case design, it analyses the flexibility of the interaction of two retailers and two suppliers. Based on the empirical findings, it shows that the use of IOS can constrain even competent organisations. It also shows how different organisational contexts affect the flexibility of inter-organisational collaboration. It finally discusses the socio-technical and dynamic nature of flexibility, as well as examining the relationships between its different dimensions.