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1 – 3 of 3Seyed Mohammad Hadi Baghdadi, Ehsan Dehghani, Mohammad Hossein Dehghani Sadrabadi, Mahdi Heydari and Maryam Nili
Spurred by the high turnover in the pharmaceutical industry, locating pharmacies inside urban areas along with the high product perishability in this industry, the pharmaceutical…
Abstract
Purpose
Spurred by the high turnover in the pharmaceutical industry, locating pharmacies inside urban areas along with the high product perishability in this industry, the pharmaceutical supply chain management has recently gained increasing attention. Accordingly, this paper unveils an inventory-routing problem for designing a pharmaceutical supply chain with perishable products and time-dependent travel time in an uncertain environment.
Design/methodology/approach
In this study, mathematical programming is employed to formulate a multi-graph network affected by the traffic volume in order to adapt to real-world situations. Likewise, by transforming the travel speed function to the travel time function using a step-by-step algorithm, the first-in-first-out property is warranted. Moreover, the Box–Jenkins forecasting method is employed to diminish the demand uncertainty.
Findings
An appealing result is that the delivery horizon constraint in the under-study multi-graph network may eventuate in selecting a longer path. Our analysis also indicates that the customers located in the busy places in the city are not predominantly visited in the initial and last delivery horizon, which are the rush times. Moreover, it is concluded that integrating disruption management, routing planning and inventory management in the studied network leads to a reduction of costs in the long term.
Originality/value
Applying the time-dependent travel time with a heterogeneous fleet of vehicles on the multi-graph network, considering perishability in the products for reducing inventory costs, considering multiple trips of transfer fleet, considering disruption impacts on supply chain components and utilizing the Box–Jenkins method to reduce uncertainty are the contributions of the present study.
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Maryam Shafiei Sarvestani, Ali Javanmard, Mohammad Ebrahim Samie and Ali Biranvand
This study aims to explore the impact of mobile learning on educating Iranian adult neo-literates within courses held by Iranian Literacy Movement Organization.
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to explore the impact of mobile learning on educating Iranian adult neo-literates within courses held by Iranian Literacy Movement Organization.
Design/methodology/approach
A concurrent mixed-methods design was used to investigate to what extent the adult neo-literates in Shiraz, Iran, were ready to use mobile phones in their courses. The qualitative section involved merging and summarizing basic themes into organizing themes. The themes were then integrated to create a single global theme.
Findings
The results showed that the participants were ready to embrace m-learning. Instrumentality was the most influential factor contributing to neo-literates’ readiness for m-learning. Findings also showed that from learners’ standpoint, mobile phones presented some unique features, enabling them to integrate elements from both distance and face-to-face courses. They also believed that mobile phones or other information and communications technology gadgets provided better opportunities for learning, although they fall short of fully replacing human instructors.
Research limitations/implications
The limitations of the study were the participants’ limited familiarity with the research procedure and the impossibility of holding joint gatherings at specific locations.
Originality/value
This applied study helps the literacy movement to take strong steps toward creating an educational environment that guarantees learning anytime and anywhere for its learners.
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Maryam Derakhshan and Diljit Singh
The purpose of this paper is to focus on academics' point of view towards integration of information literacy into the curriculum.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to focus on academics' point of view towards integration of information literacy into the curriculum.
Design/methodology/approach
This meta‐synthesis analyzed 48 journal articles that examined issues related to integration information literacy into the curriculum. Using the Stevick‐Colaizzi‐Keen method, a meta‐synthesis of seven studies was conducted.
Findings
This process revealed four themes that outline issues related to the academics perspective: collaboration; information literacy pedagogy; information literacy skills; and knowledge.
Research limitations/implications
As this is a literature review, one limitation is lack of literature on perceptions towards information literacy. The issue will be examined further with a wider population.
Practical implications
These results suggest that more knowledge is needed to integrate information literacy into the curriculum to prepare information literate students who can effectively learn information literacy skills and research strategies to be lifelong learners.
Originality/value
The paper explores academics' perceptions towards information literacy and shows the importance of their perceptions as a key step towards embedding its successful adoption.
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