Decision support for lead time and demand variability reduction

Companies undertaking operations improvement in supply chains face many alternatives. This work seeks to assist practitioners to prioritize improvement actions by developing analytical expressions for the marginal values of three parameters – (i) lead time mean, (ii) lead time variance, and (iii) demand variance – which measure the marginal cost of an incremental change in a parameter. The relative effectiveness of reducing lead time mean versus lead time variance is captured by the ratio of the marginal value of lead time mean to that of lead time variance. We find that this ratio strongly depends on whether the lead time mean and variance are independent or correlated. We illustrate the application of the results with a numerical example from an industrial setting. The insights can help managers determine the optimal investment decision to modify demand and supply characteristics in their supply chain, e.g., by switching suppliers, factory layout, or investing in information systems.     

A Case Study Approach to Reducing the Risks of Child Sexual Exploitation (CSE)

ABSTRACT

The risk of child sexual exploitation is a growing concern, both within community and child care settings. Within community services working with vulnerable young people, the risks of exploitation are pervasive and present a constant management problem for professionals. This makes the need for focused educational interventions within such settings all the more vital. This case study aims to describe the assessment, formulation, intervention, and outcomes of a young female considered to be at risk of sexual exploitation. It was hypothesised that, after completion of a psychoeducational group designed to enhance knowledge and skills around child sexual exploitation, positive outcomes would be seen in psychometric assessment, risk-taking behavior, and risk awareness. Results demonstrated no clinically significant change for measures of impulsivity, resourcefulness, or self-reported difficulties. A significant increase was seen for self-reported self-esteem, and all outcomes revealed a positive direction of change. Observational accounts of behavioral and attitudinal change produced more positive results, revealing an increase in prosocial behaviors and a reduction in risk-taking behaviors. Outcomes are discussed in relation to the individual’s history and the residential care environment. Implications for future research and practice are outlined, and the study limitations are considered.     

Befriending Services for Culturally Diverse Older People

Befriending services may address loneliness and social isolation amongst older people. However social diversity is rarely reported in investigations of befriending services. The views of non-users are also rarely explored. In this research, we explored older adults’ experiences of, and attitudes towards, a befriending service, among service users and non-service users, drawing on interviews and focus groups with 76 older adults, 10 volunteer visitors, and 20 service providers. Participants agreed that the befriending service helped alleviate social isolation and loneliness and that supportive services to foster connection are needed. Barriers to engagement included lack of knowledge, appropriateness of services and feeling undeserving. The befriending service was most successful when a match went beyond a transactional ‘professional-client’ relationship to resemble genuine friendship, underpinned by mutual interests and norms of reciprocity and reliability. We also identified five clear ideas about what characterizes an ideal supportive service; supported opportunities for getting out, genuine and reciprocal relationships, reliability, visitor characteristics, and connecting people to their culture. Befriending adds to social networks, and enhances connectedness to the community. Loneliness is alleviated when mutually beneficial and genuinely reciprocal relationships develop. However, group interventions or connections to community groups may be more appropriate for some.     

INFLUENCE OVER OBSERVERS OF STRUCTURAL POWER: An Experimental Investigation

Research in network exchange theory and status characteristics theory that distinguishes power from influence has proven productive, but leaves open the question of whether a causal relationship exists between these two central, sociological concepts. Past research has found that structural power in exchange increases expectations for competent performance of the power user on a subsequent cooperative task. However, once the power advantage has been removed, previous research has failed to find increased influence of power users, perhaps because those subjected to power use react negatively to perceptions of the high-power actor as selfish or greedy. In society, the results of power used on relatively few people can be observed by many who may not react negatively to the power use because they are not directly exploited. Thus we predicted that observers of power processes would form high expectations for the competence of, and be influenced by, power users. An experimental study supported the predictions: A partner who had been in a high-power position had more influence over observers than did a partner who had been in a low-power position. An interaction was found such that the high-power partner had more influence over observers of power in strong-power networks, but not in weak-power networks.     

Liberating voices through narrative methods: the case for an interpretive research approach

This article argues the case for employing narrative methods when undertaking research with people with profound learning difficulties and people who lack verbal articulacy. It considers the foundations of life history research and the transformative position of the researcher since the 1930s. The article then examines the requisite skills for eliciting life stories and interviewing, followed by the form of the interview. It questions the logic in rigidly following qualitative interviewing as the main tool for eliciting information. The author argues that the skills and experiences of the researcher become important during challenging interview situations and that moving away from traditional qualitative interviewing means attempting to include people with profound learning difficulties in the process of researching their lives and experiences.     

Challenges in Constructing a Multi-dimensional European Job Quality Index

There are few attempts to benchmark job quality in a multi-dimensional perspective across Europe. Against this background, we have created a synthetic job quality index (JQI) for the EU27 countries in an attempt to shed light on the question of how European countries compare with each other and how they are developing over time in terms of job quality. Taking account of the multi-faceted nature of job quality, the JQI is compiled on the basis of six sub-indices which cover the most important dimensions of job quality as identified in the literature. The paper addresses the methods used to construct the JQI and make it comparable over time. It presents the results for 2010 and briefly addresses changes over time to illustrate the potential and limits of a multidimensional European JQI. It also considers alternative specifications for various sub-indices and tests for the impact of changes in the indicators used on the outcomes. Overall, the findings appear to confirm the feasibility and desirability of attempting to assess job quality by means of a composite index that can be periodically updated. The key strength of this approach is the possibility to monitor and benchmark EU countries’ overall job quality performances and the outcomes in six sub-dimensions of job quality and compare them with each other, across gender and over time. At the same time, the limitations of such a composite index need to be borne in mind. The most important challenges are the availability (over time), timeliness and periodicity, comparability and disaggregation of data.     

Reference regions for beat‐to‐beat ECG data

The QT interval is regarded as an important biomarker for the assessment of arrhythmia liability, and evidence of QT prolongation has led to the withdrawal and relabeling of numerous compounds. Traditional methods of assessing QT prolongation correct the QT interval for the length of the RR interval (which varies inversely with heart‐rate) in a variety of ways. These methods often disagree with each other and do not take into account changes in autonomic state. Correcting the QT interval for RR reduces a bivariate observation (RR, QT) to a univariate observation (QTc). The development of automatic electrocardiogram (ECG) signal acquisition systems has made it possible to collect continuous (so called ‘beat‐to‐beat’) ECG data. ECG data collected prior to administration of a compound allow us to define a region for (RR, QT) values that encompasses typical activity. Such reference regions are used in clinical applications to define the ‘normal’ region of clinical or laboratory measurements. This paper motivates the need for reference regions of (RR, QT) values from beat‐to‐beat ECG data, and describes a way of constructing these. We introduce a measure of agreement between two reference regions that points to the reliability of 12‐lead digital Holter data. We discuss the use of reference regions in establishing baselines for ECG parameters to assist in the evaluation of cardiac risk and illustrate using data from two methodological studies. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Contextual moderators of the link between national and European identity among European youth

Identification with Europe can constitute an important part of psychological citizenship for European citizens. From a self-categorization perspective, higher-order (e.g. with Europe) and lower order subgroup identities (e.g. with the nation) may interfere with each other if they are seen as incompatible. We were interested in contextual moderators at school and country level of youth’ national identity on identification with Europe. We used multi-level regression analyses based on data from the International Civic and Citizenship Education Study, collected from 14-year old students (n?=?71,282) from 22 European countries. Results showed strong positive effects of national identity at the individual, and classroom-level on European identity. However, main effects of national identity at the individual level were qualified by a number of interactions with contextual-level moderators. The relationship between national and European identity was weaker for adolescents attending classrooms or living in countries with lower average levels of trust in EU institutions. Living in countries with higher gender and income inequalities, less friendly immigration policies, and a communist past lessened the association between national and European identity. Results point to the powerful effects of context in shaping the relationship between national and European identity.