Optimizing inventory and marketing policy for non-instantaneous deteriorating items with generalized type deterioration and holding cost rates

This paper considers an inventory system with non-instantaneous deteriorating item in which demand rate is a function of advertisement of an item and selling price. This paper aids the retailer in maximizing the total profit by determining optimal inventory and marketing parameters. In contrast to previous inventory models, an arbitrary holding cost rate and arbitrary deterioration rate have been incorporated to provide general framework to the model. First, a mathematical model is formulated and then some useful theoretical results have been framed to characterize the optimal solutions. The necessary and sufficient conditions for the existence and uniqueness of the optimal solutions are also derived. An algorithm is designed to find the optimum solutions of the proposed model. Numerical examples are included to illustrate the algorithmic procedure and the effects of key parameters are studied to analyze the behavior of the model.     

Property Loss Estimation for Wind and Earthquake Perils

This article describes the development of a generic loss assessment methodology, which is applicable to earthquake and windstorm perils worldwide. The latest information regarding hazard estimation is first integrated with the parameters that best describe the intensity of the action of both windstorms and earthquakes on building structures, for events with defined average return periods or recurrence intervals. The subsequent evaluation of building vulnerability (damageability) under the action of both earthquake and windstorm loadings utilizes information on damage and loss from past events, along with an assessment of the key building properties (including age and quality of design and construction), to assess information about the ability of buildings to withstand such loadings and hence to assign a building type to the particular risk or portfolio of risks. This predicted damage information is then translated into risk-specific mathematical vulnerability functions, which enable numerical evaluation of the probability of building damage arising at various defined levels. By assigning cost factors to the defined damage levels, the associated computation of total loss at a given level of hazard may be achieved. This developed methodology is universal in the sense that it may be applied successfully to buildings situated in a variety of earthquake and windstorm environments, ranging from very low to extreme levels of hazard. As a loss prediction tool, it enables accurate estimation of losses from potential scenario events linked to defined return periods and, hence, can greatly assist risk assessment and planning.     

Leadership,Passion and Performance: A Study of Job Creation Projects during the Recession

In the aftermath of the economic recession that began in 2008, governmental bodies have been assisting private sector companies to create jobs. To increase financial performance under greater economic uncertainty and liquidity constraints, this study proposes that a leader's type of passion could explain why some project leaders who receive government funding succeed in creating jobs whereas others do not. Harmonious passion, a voluntary but not overpowering urge to engage in an activity, leads to higher job creation, especially under greater environmental complexity. Obsessive passion, an uncontrollable urge to engage in an activity, also leads to higher job creation, particularly under increasing environmental dynamism. Using survey data from 105 European Union projects and archival data on job creation from the EU funding agency, we find support for the proposed framework. The findings provide a basis for acknowledging the relevance of a leader's passion for environmental adaptation.     

Connecting Cash Transfers with Care for Better Child and Family Well-Being: Evidence from a Qualitative Evaluation in South Africa

Child and Adolescent Social Work Journal - Limited evidence exists of the effectiveness of combining cash transfers and family strengthening interventions in developing country contexts. This study...     

A simpler way of obtaining non-sIngularity conditions of rotatability

In response surface designs, it is not usually easy to handle the moment matrix X'X, especially for higher orders. This paper presents a method in which the moment matrix of a response surface of any order can be standardized, i.e., X'X splits into a diagonal matrix consisting of sub-matrices of lower order. This eases the calculation of the determinant and the inverse of X'X. The method has been illustrated with applications to second, third and fourth order response surfaces.     

Culture in Science Education

Classrooms in South Africa are becoming increasingly diversified. Students come to the science class with a variety of practices and beliefs. Although many of these beliefs have no direct link with the science the students are being taught at school, students belief that such beliefs and practices are in some way linked to science. This would require that the teacher has to develop strategies through which the beliefs and practices of the students could be addressed in the science class.     

Operational Slack and Venture Survival

Slack can act as a double‐edged sword. While it can buffer against environmental threats to help ensure business continuity, slack can also be costly and reduce profitability. In this study we focus on operational slack, the form related to the firm's production processes. We investigate the role of operational slack on firm survival during its venture stage when its survival is significantly challenged by environmental threats. Specifically, we explore how change in three types of environmental uncertainty, namely dynamism, complexity, and lack of munificence, affect the relationship between operational slack and venture survival. Results suggest that with an increase in environmental uncertainty, operational slack lowers the likelihood of venture failure.     

Optimum two stage group-screening designs

In this paper, emphasis has been given to both the expected number of runs and the expected number of incorrect decisions and two stage group-screening designs have been obtained which minimise one fixing the other or minimise some sort of cost function which connects the two. Some group-screening plans have been given at the end as illustrations.     

An asymptotic expression for cumulative sum of probabilities of the hermite distribution

An asymptotic approximation of cumulative sum F(s) of probabilities of the Hermite distribution (Kemp C. D. and Kemp A. W. (1965)) and an asymptotic approximation of individual Hemite Probability P_s are given for large s.