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Electro‐magnetic stirrers, applied to the mold of a continuous caster, induces electromagnetic forces that influence the steel flow pattern modifying the casting parameters. The steel quality has been highly improved by the application of this magneto‐hydro‐dynamic (MHD) technique. Anyway, the complexity of the MHD interaction made difficult the complete comprehension of the factors that contribute to eliminate the defects due to the inclusions in the cast products. The optimization of the MHD techniques is still the object of a large research effort, which utilizes both experimental activity and numerical simulation. In this paper, the numerical simulation of the 2D flow pattern of the molten steel in a mold for billets has been done. The attention is focused on the gradient of the velocity of the molten steel near the wall and on the effects that the gradient change determines on the inclusions, which are present in the metallic pool. Actually the increase of the velocity gradient corresponds to the increase of the forces that can clean the solidifying shell from the inclusions.

The European Commission has established the reference value of the social discount rate (SDR) to be used in the cost-benefit analysis according to the subdivision of the states relating to the beneficiaries of the Cohesion Fund. This criterion does not allow to adequately consider the economic, social and environmental conditions of each European states for ensuring an equitable and inclusive growth. The aimof the work is to provide an innovative methodology for assessing the “adjusted” SDR according to the socioeconomic and environmental conditions that differently affect the sustainable development of each European state.

Through the implementation of a methodological approach that consists of ordered and sequential phases and the synergic adoption of the Multi-Criteria Techniques with the Data Envelopment Analysis, a corrective coefficient of the SDR established by the European Commission is determined.

The results obtained for the 27 European states highlight how the different conditions of each of them could affect the correct choice of the SDR to be used in the Cost-Benefit Analysis.

The proposed research represents a useful reference for identifying national reference SDR values for each European state, consistent with its specificities and with the goals of inclusive growth of the countries and of social and territorial cohesion. Furthermore, the traceability of the methodology in its phases will allow to adapt the SDR to sudden events or exogenous shocks.

Many entrepreneurs are able to manage their businesses within relatively contained and familiar geographical and cultural circles. With a world economy shrinking every day amid a flood of digital information, todayʼs entrepreneur is increasingly confronted with opportunities to consider new ways to secure vendors and recruit customers. Many unfamiliar possibilities emerge. Should the entrepreneur venture beyond “comfortable” surroundings to consider international connections? Specifically, what about China? How practical is this fetching business temptation of larger markets and lower-cost subcontractors? What are the social, trade, financial, and political issues? Should a “China strategy” be a true entrepreneurial offensive, or rather a defensive response to competition? Is this “China strategy” the promise of yet another entrepreneurial nirvana? Or is it perhaps again a case of “Be careful of what you wish for; it may really come true?”

The purpose of this paper is to present an attempt to develop an instrument containing operational measures of lean combined with safety and ergonomic conditions in a workstation or production line. This operational tool aims to help researchers and practitioners to prioritize and evaluate the lean implementations, as well as the ergonomic and safety conditions, in an integrated way.

Lean manufacturing methods and principles, as well as safety and ergonomics aspects, were exhaustively researched with the ultimate goal of finding a way to improve the workplace by taking into account the efficiency and well-being of workers. The instrument was validated in an interactive process between theory and practical insights. At the end, it was tested in several workstations/production areas.

The study reveals that high scores are derived from a good interaction between lean, ergonomics and safety.

It would be important to validate it in different companies and different types of industries because each one has its own characteristics.

This tool helps practitioners (technicians and ergonomic practitioners from manufacturing companies) assess the implementation of lean principles and the safety issues in their processes. It also allows managers to evaluate their business and identify the priority areas to improve according to the previously defined company’s aims.

As Peter Drucker said: “If you can’t measure it, you can’t improve it.” For a successful implementation, managers should start the lean journey with a lean assessment and make it in a regular basis. To the authors’ knowledge, there are various lean assessment tools, but this work is innovative because it provides an assessment instrument to evaluate organizations’ workstations/production areas simultaneously in three dimensions: lean, safety and ergonomic aspects.

The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate how geomarketing statical tools (notably, gravitational models) can support healthcare organisations to improve the quality of their services.

Geomarketing tools were applied to the analysis of data (91,478 observations) concerning the performance of nuclear magnetic resonance.

Geomarketing models can support and enhance the planning of service provisions of healthcare organisations. Drawing the planning actions on the patient needs and actual behaviours allow the healthcare organisations to obtain better market performance.

The results support the health service planning activities related to covering the so-called “offer gaps”.

This is the first study to apply geomarketing to improve the quality of healthcare services.