Route‐Independent Analysis of Available Capacity in Flexible Manufacturing Systems

In a job shop, because of large setup times, each operation is assigned to only one machine. There is no alternative routing. In a flexible manufacturing system, each manufacturing operation can often be performed on several machines. Therefore, with automated equipment, the capacity of a machine to perform certain operations is not independent of the capacity of other machines. Often, however, operations managers can use a route‐independent answer to production planning questions. For example, how much can be produced of a certain part type and when are important capacity questions in business negotiations, when the detailed routing and scheduling are not yet of interest or cannot be known. This paper provides a mathematical model for the route‐independent analysis of the capacity of flexible manufacturing systems based on a concept of operation types. An example is provided both to illustrate the use of operation types and to highlight the differences between the traditional route‐dependent and the proposed route‐independent formulations of capacity constraints. Some computational results are also given. Finally, a sensitivity analysis is developed to analyze the feasibility of production plans when production requirements and machine capacities can change.     

Methodology for the Calculation of Annualized Incremental Risks in Systems of Dams

In the past few years, the field of dam safety has approached risk informed methodologies throughout the world and several methodologies and programs are appearing to aid in the systematization of the calculations. The most common way of implementing these calculations is through the use of event trees, computing event probabilities, and incremental consequences. This methodology is flexible enough for several situations, but its generalization to the case of systems of several dams is complex and its implementation in a completely general calculation methodology presents some problems. Retaining the event tree framework, a new methodology is proposed to calculate incremental risks. The main advantage of this proposed methodology is the ease with which it can be applied to systems of several dams: with a single risk model that describes the complete system and with a single calculation the incremental risks of the system can be obtained, being able to allocate the risk of each dam and of each failure mode. The article shows how both methodologies are equivalent and also applies them to a case study.     

The Surgical Scheduling Problem: Current Research and Future Opportunities

This paper reviews the general problem of surgical scheduling. We organize the literature based on the time frame or planning horizon of the schedule into six categories: capacity planning, process reengineering/redesign, the surgical services portfolio, procedure duration estimation, schedule construction, and schedule execution, monitoring, and control. We survey past work and suggest topics for potential future research in each of those areas.     

Nonparametric Instrumental Regression

The focus of this paper is the nonparametric estimation of an instrumental regression function ϕ defined by conditional moment restrictions that stem from a structural econometric model E[Y−ϕ(Z)|W]=0, and involve endogenous variables Y and Z and instruments W. The function ϕ is the solution of an ill‐posed inverse problem and we propose an estimation procedure based on Tikhonov regularization. The paper analyzes identification and overidentification of this model, and presents asymptotic properties of the estimated nonparametric instrumental regression function.     

Life satisfaction in midlife childless and empty-nest men and women

The primary purpose of this study was to contrast the life satisfaction of midlife empty-nest and childless individuals. Seventy-two men and women reported on their satisfaction with 11 areas of life as well as with regard to children. Empty-nest individuals were more satisfied than childless persons with regard to their decisions regarding children; however, the childless individuals were not unhappy with their decisions. Empty-nest individuals were also more positive than childless individuals about contact with children. There were no differences between the two groups with regard to areas of life satisfaction not related to children; nor were there significant gender differences in life satisfaction. The results were discussed in relation to both theory and data concerning midlife satisfaction and adjustment.SMS AssociatesThe research was completed by James E. Bell in partial fulfillment of the requirement for the masters of counseling degree at Arizona State University.     

What does the pursuit of a high quality of life entail?: Grounding a theoretical model in lived experience

In response to calls for a better understanding of quality of life, we draw upon working professionals’ perspectives and experiences to introduce a theoretical model that emerged from an inductive analysis of respondents’ language. A key element of this model includes a collective picture of factors representing quality of life. Further, this model suggests interrelatedness among these factors with pursuit of a high quality of life emerging as a dynamic process with a tensional nature. Our proposed model extends existing research by more fully capturing the complex ways in which people from the United States describe quality of life and its pursuit.     

土族民间祭祀圈与信仰圈

文章以民和三川土族村落中的部分神祗为切入点，试图用文化人类学中的祭祀圈、信仰圈理论来解释和探讨土族民间信仰与土族村落发展问题。     

Short-term demographic fluctuations in the croatian military border of austria, 1830–1847

Crude birth, death and marriage rates are examined for the Croatian military defence zone andcordon sanitaire against Turkey for the period 1830–1847. From 20 to 80 per cent of the variance in medium- and short-term swings in rates can be attributed to epidemics and fluctuations in grain harvest and livestock holdings. Standardization of the data to adjust for extreme ecological variation between micro-regions is essential. The ‘Malthusian’ status of this late feudal population is established, at the outset of long-term fertility decline.