The deregulation of electricity markets increases the financial risk faced by retailers who procure electric energy on the spot market to meet their customers’ electricity demand. To hedge against this exposure, retailers often hold a portfolio of electricity derivative contracts. In this paper, we propose a multistage stochastic mean-variance optimisation model for the management of such a por...

Search engines, directories and web browsers all deal with the Internet at the level of individual web-pages. We argue that this is too low a level of resolution for many, including the non-casual surfer, who has detailed knowledge of his/her topic of interest. We present the shopping-mall metaphor that is based on identifying tightly integrated communities of web pages, where pages procure inf...

Auctions are a fundamental mechanism to automating negotiations in electronic commerce. We investigate multi-attribute auctions, an economic mechanism, which automates negotiation on multiple attributes of a deal. In this approach, we combine decision analysis techniques and single-sided auction mechanisms in order to procure goods and services. The paper describes an experimental analysis of m...

Significant developments are occurring in the domain of electronic government within the UK – the use of ICT to enable re-structuring of governmental processes. In this paper we look at that subset of e-Government known as electronic democracy. In particular, we describe how electronic consultation, an important facet of electronic democracy, is being used to procure ideas from partnership orga...

Sir,?I read with interest Dr. Measham's article on ' Vitex peduncularis in the Treatment of Blackwater Fever' appearing in the January 1940 issue of the Indian Medical Gazette. Indeed, there exists a common belief amongst the tea planters that Vitex "peduncularis is a cure for blackwater fever, and it is for this reason that the plant is being cultivated in numerous tea estates and forest nurse...

There is a very much need for a discovery of new molecules a potent molecule that can cure tuberculosis and prevent the recurrence. A multidisciplinary approach is required to procure a potent bioactive compound and this includes expertise in the fields of ethnobotany, ethnopharmacology and Phytochemistry. The present communication acts as a bioprospecting source for the drug discovery against ...

Farm to School (FTS) programs are increasingly popular as methods to teach students about food, nutrition, and agriculture by connecting students with the sources of the food that they eat. They may also provide opportunity for farmers seeking to diversify market channels. Food service buyers in FTS programs often choose to procure food for school meals directly from farmers. The distribution p...

Regression Testing is exclusively executed to guarantee the desirable functionality of existing software after pursuing quite a few amendments or variations in it. Perhaps, it testifies the quality of the modified software by concealing the regressions or software bugs in both functional and non-functional applications of the system. In fact, the maintenance of test suite is enormous as it nece...

This paper deals with the open issue about the choice between a centralized versus a decentralized public procurement strategy. Using a unique dataset on tender prices of selected drugs for hospital usage awarded by a sample of 52 Italian local health service providers (ASLs) between 2009 and 2012, we test which procurement system (centralized, decentralized or hybrid) performs better. Controll...

Botswana's national healthcare system has experienced substantial investment as a result of a growing economy and stable government, and improvements in quality and access are notable. Despite these advances, women's reproductive health continues to suffer as a result of unsafe abortion. The personal, financial, and health costs of women seeking dangerous illegal terminations, or crossing natio...