Management science in the United States and Europe: A decade of change in the literature

This paper focuses upon the investigation of change in the management science literature from 1965 to 1974. Both subject areas and reported areas of implementation are investigated. The study classifies the content of each article published during the past decade in the following set of European and American journals: United States—Management Science; British—Operational Research Quarterly; and German—Zeitscrift für Operations Research. A comparison of the results along both inter and intra country dimensions is presented.     

Mixed refinements of Shapley's saddles and weak tournaments

We investigate refinements of two solutions, the saddle and the weak saddle, defined by Shapley (1964) for two-player zero-sum games. Applied to weak tournaments, the first refinement, the mixed saddle, is unique and gives us a new solution, generally lying between the GETCHA and GOTCHA sets of Schwartz (1972, 1986). In the absence of ties, all three solutions reduce to the usual top cycle set. The second refinement, the weak mixed saddle, is not generally unique, but, in the absence of ties, it is unique and coincides with the minimal covering set. Received: 14 August 1998/Accepted: 12 November 1999     

Cardiac conditions

Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the leading cause of death in the US. The growth of the older population in coming decades will inevitably increase the incidence of age-related cardiac disease. Increasing evidence has shown the prevalence of co-morbid mental health conditions in CVD patients. Specifically, depression and anxiety have been linked with CVD mortality. Due to the risk of psychosocial conditions with cardiac patients, mental health practitioners in health and gerontology need to be well-informed about CVD-related mental health comorbidity and current research developments. Accordingly, this article provides a systematic review of the clinical evidence about the efficacy, cost-effectiveness, and any potential risk of psychosocial intervention with cardiac patients.     

Gambling over the life course and treatment-seeking

The purpose of this study is to investigate change in gambling behaviours over the life course, and, correspondingly, the treatment-seeking behaviours of 86 people who met the criteria for at-risk (participants endorsing two to four items on the South Oaks Gambling Screen [SOGS]) and problem gamblers (participants endorsing five or more items on the SOGS) over the last five years. Data were obtained from informants during semi-structured interviews using Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV axis I and axis II disorders (SCID I and II), SOGS and treatment-seeking interviews. The results showed three groups of gambling behaviours over the life course. A first group started gambling early on and continued participating in recreational gambling until its participants were between 40 and 50 years of age, during which time they became problem gamblers. A second group transitioned from recreational gambling to problem gambling over a short period of time; its participants were aged between 40 and 50. Lastly, a third group which was exposed to gambling later on in life, mostly after retirement, developed gambling problems quickly. Psychopathology was prevalent in all groups, given that 98% suffered from a mental health problem during their life, and 62% within the last six months. Participants who made use of the services available mostly turned to medical and specialized mental services for brief periods, usually when in crisis. In terms of problem gambling, the results argue in favour of maintaining dedication toward treatment, especially in the presence of co-morbidity.     

Family policy and a social incomes policy: The case of the single-parent allowance in France

From the outset, French family policy has vacillated between several objectives: defending the institution of the family, encouraging childbirth and reducing social inequalities. In the current context of social policy, certain family allowances take on the appearance of veritable social incomes policy measures. Children, in the same way as loss of employment or disablement, give rise to entitlement to social solidarity. This paper will examine the case of the single-parent allowance, introduced in France in 1976, and will place it in the context of "minimum social incomes", taken to mean those that afford a modicum of self-respect, rather than being mere subsistence incomes.     

Comparing Immigration Policies: An Overview from the IMPALA Database

This paper introduces a method and preliminary findings from a database that systematically measures the character and stringency of immigration policies. Based on the selection of that data for nine countries between 1999 and 2008, we challenge the idea that any one country is systematically the most or least restrictive toward admissions. The data also reveal trends toward more complex and, often, more restrictive regulation since the 1990s, as well as differential treatment of groups, such as lower requirements for highly skilled than low‐skilled labor migrants. These patterns illustrate the IMPALA data and methods but are also of intrinsic importance to understanding immigration regulation.     

Gambling Problems Among Community Cocaine Users

Cocaine use is highly prevalent and a major public health problem. While some studies have reported frequent comorbidity problems among cocaine users, few studies have included evaluation of gambling problems. This study aimed to estimate the prevalence of gambling problems and compare those who were at-risk gamblers with non-problem gamblers in terms of mental health problems, substance use problems, and some risk factors (i.e. family antecedents, erroneous perceptions and coping strategies) among individuals who smoke or inject cocaine. A total of 424 smoked or injected cocaine users recruited through community-based programs in Montreal (Quebec) completed the questionnaire, including the Canadian Pathological Gambling Index, the Composite International Diagnostic Interview, the CAGE, and the Severity Dependence Scale. Of the sample, 18.4 % were considered at-risk gamblers, of whom 7.8 % had problems gambling and 10.6 % were moderate-risk gamblers. The at-risk group was more likely to have experienced a recent phobic disorder and alcohol problems than the non-problem group. A multivariate analysis showed that, compared to those who were non-problem gamblers, the at-risk ones were more likely to have lost a large sum of money when they first started gambling, believed that their luck would turn, and gambled in reaction to painful life events. These results indicate the need to include routines for screening to identify gambling problem among cocaine users.     

The contribution of opinion surveys in forecasting aggregate demand in the four main EC countries

This paper presents for the four main EC countries forecasting models of aggregate demand components based on various tendency surveys. Its objective is to work out practical models both in terms of data requirement and computation as the models are to be used regularly for very short-term forecasting. In spite of a great simplicity of the specifications, the regression results prove quite acceptable. Forecasting exercises compare reasonably well with the results of more elaborate procedures.