Improving communication via quantitative management

Villa Soft Drinks Ltd, established in 1884, manufactures and bottles spring waters and carbonates for both the growing adult soft drinks market and the more traditional soft drinks market. The company employs just over 100 people split between the manufacturing site in Sunderland and the head office and distribution centre in Washington. One of the fundamental problems affecting the day-to-day running of Villa, and most companies, is communication. There is a lack of awareness of the impact that changes in one department have on other departments (e.g. if production efficiency is increased by 10%, what impact will this have on warehousing?). Villa had recently identified key performance indicators (KPIs) to monitor all aspects of manufacturing performance on a regular basis. This enabled the current production situation to be evaluated and helped familiarize staff with charts and measurements. The use of Pareto analysis and problem solving techniques helped to boost efficiency and utilization. Key performance indicators were then developed in most other departments and are monitored and displayed regularly. The KPIs can be used further to improve transparency across the company by incorporating them in an interactive, interpretative tool to aid communication and understanding at all levels of the company. Individual departmental flow diagrams will be linked together to represent how the company operates. The diagrams will include both material flow and information flow. These data will then be organized in a software package and the end result will be a fully integrated simulation of the company in which any variable can be altered to demonstrate the effect this has on other departments and therefore the company as a whole. This will be an extremely valuable tool for the company as it will have many different applications, such as calculating manning requirements, identifying potential cycle time reductions and optimizing warehouse space.     

Interview Costs in the Secretary Problem

The effect of interview costs on the optimal selection strategy and on the chance of success in secretary problems with order k selection rules, both for a finite number of applicants and in the limiting case, is examined. Probabilistic reasoning is used and numerical examples given.     

On the Average Minimum Size of a Manipulating Coalition

We study the asymptotic average minimum manipulating coalition size as a characteristic of quality of a voting rule and show its serious drawback. We suggest using the asymptotic average threshold coalition size instead. We prove that, in large electorates, the asymptotic average threshold coalition size is maximised among all scoring rules by the Borda rule when the number m of alternatives is 3 or 4, and by -approval voting when m ≥ 5.     

Reputational Capital and Academic Pay

This article examines how research productivity, administrative service, and teaching affect reputational capital in the market for academic economists. Also, we investigate the issue of the durability of reputational capital, estimating the penalties associated with gaps in research output. Our results reveal that (1) the market makes a distinction between the quantity and the quality of an individual's research output, (2) a smaller number of frequently cited papers enhances reputational capital more than a greater number of less frequently cited papers, (3) reputational capital does not depreciate rapidly during research breaks, and (4) the market does not discount co-authored papers.     

Minority Stress in the Lives of Men Who Have Sex With Men in Cape Town,South Africa

The mental health outcomes of men who have sex with men (MSM) living in sub-Saharan Africa are understudied, despite evidence that discrimination and stigma are widespread. This article examines the occurrence and mental health effects of minority stress in a sample of diverse South African MSM. Twenty-two MSM living in Cape Town took part in exploratory qualitative in-depth interviews and completed mental health questionnaires. Results indicate that the majority of participants experienced minority stress, which affected their sexual relationships and coping strategies. Concealment behaviors and perceived discrimination levels were high and were associated with race, religion, SES, and geographical location.     

When elevators were for pianos: an oral history account of the civilian experience of using wheelchairs in Canadian society. The first twenty-five years: 1945-1970

In 1945 Canadian World War II veterans with spinal cord injury were among the first Canadians to have access to medical rehabilitation programs, the Everest and Jennings folding, self-propelled wheelchair and automobiles with hand-controls. A previous paper, Going back to Civvy Street (Tremblay, 1996) described how the veteran pioneers used these new opportunities to return to full participation in civilian life. Drawing on oral history and archival research, this paper examines the experiences of Canadian civilians with spinal cord injury as they tried to follow the veterans' example. It discusses the strategies these pioneers used to overcome obstacles, such as stairs and curbs, as well as providing examples of their experiences in finding housing, education and employment. The paper reviews the responses individuals received from their fellow citizens and highlights the limited recognition of architectural barriers in an era when elevators were for pianos!     

Missing Class: Strengthening Social Movement Groups by Seeing Class Cultures

No abstract available for this article.     

Land-use planning in a world of shrinking resources

The paper contrasts two opposed strategies of land-use planning: the classical planning strategy of containment and conservation, and the strategy for outward displacement of land uses, here designated ‘Lemmings Rule’. It is shown how Lemmings Rule which has characterized recent years in Britain, despite the existence of the planning machine, has resulted in large-scale waste of the land resource through various landuse zones outward from the inner city. Statistics derived from the Second Land Utilisation Survey of the 1960s and sample resurveys of the 1970s are cited in support of the argument for a return to the insurance principle in planning.     

Recent European fertility patterns: fitting curves to 'distorted' distributions

Recent patterns of fertility in Europe show marked differences between countries. Recent United Kingdom and Irish fertility curves show 'distortions' in terms of a 'bulge' in early age fertility, distinct from the smoother curves of other European countries. These patterns may not be adequately described by mathematical functions used by previous studies to model fertility curves. A mixture model with two component distributions may be more appropriate. The suitability of the simple and mixture Hadwiger functions is examined in relation to the fertility curves of a number of European countries. While the simple Hadwiger model fits recent period age-specific fertility distributions for some countries, others which display a 'bulge' in early age fertility distributions for some countries, others which display a 'bulg' in early age fertility require a mixture Hadwiger model. Some of the parameters of the Hadwiger models appear to be related to familiar demographic indices. The simple and mixture Hadwiger models appear useful in describing and comparing fertility patterns across European countries.