Supply chain operations and concepts Research Paper

Supply chain operations and concepts - Research Paper Example his endeavor, the rise of the computer age has provided some tools that reduce the level of paperwork in the supply chain while it has also blown apart many of the preconceived ideas regarding territory and boundary. Now, not only are companies attempting to compete with regional and national firms, but must also fend off the advances of international organizations while attempting to gain footholds in new countries. This introduces differing sets of criteria for the supply chain manager including the production of products, governmental regulations or specifications and available technology or resources each of which must be addressed before a product can be offered in a new or old market. To help cope with these multiple concurrent concerns, operations managers and scientists have developed a wide range of strategy sets that are capable of addressing each concern independently or a variety of concerns concurrently depending upon the operation of the firm which is further defined by the type of product produced and the methods by which it is created and delivered. Supply chain management encompasses the planning and management of all activities involved in sourcing and procurement, conversion and all logistics management behaviors. It also includes coordination and collaboration with channel partners, which can be suppliers, intermediaries, third-party service providers or customers. In essence, supply chain management integrates supply and demand management within and across companies. Logistics management is the element of supply chain management that plans, implements and controls the efficient forward and reverse flow and storage of goods, services and related information between the point of origin and the point of consumption in order to meet customers’ requirements (College of Business Administration, 2005). Many types of businesses and organizations most likely to employ supply chain managers include communication, consulting, military,

Causes and effect of opiate drug use among teenagers between the age Research Paper

Causes and effect of opiate drug use among teenagers between the age of thirteen and seventeen in our communities - Research Paper Example hydrocodone, hydromorphone, oxycodone, oxymorphone, and levorphanol. Artificial or synthetic opioids are also available and include fentanyl, meperidine, methadone, propoxyphene, and tramadol. While the former have chemical structures similar to natural opiates that of synthetic opiates is distinct. Irrespective of nature of origin, opiates have acute as well as chronic psychological effects and are known to be addictive (Kim-Katz & Anderson, 2011). Drug abuse is one of the major issues dealt by governments worldwide with approximately 185 million people being directly involved during the period spanning 1998-2002 according to UNODC estimates. Of this 0.4% of the population in the diverse age group of 15 to 64 years was found to be addicted to opioids with half using illicit opioids such as heroin and the remaining addicted to prescription opiates. In U.S., specific patterns are observed in nature of drug use. While illicit drug use is more prevalent among the black adolescents; prescription drug is used more frequently by whites (Schroeder & Ford, 2012). Global burden of illicit opioid use is indicated by the fact that it was reported to be responsible for 0.7% of global disability adjusted life years (DALYs) in the year 2000 (Hall et al., 2006). Teenagers in the age group of 13 to 17 years form a highly vulnerable set of population with respect to drug abuse. National Drug Intelligence Center data indicates that in the year 2 003 alone approximately 7.5 million individuals of this age group had fallen prey to illicit drug use at least once, of these 3.3% were reported to have used heroin (NDIC, 2004). A comparison of the data for the years 2008 and 2009 indicates a statistically significant rise in illicit drug use incidences in this age group (SAMHSA, 2009). Evidence based researches investigating the etiologic factors of opioid use are few. Personal factors that have been reported to be responsible for opiate use among teenagers can be listed in to three