A MODEL FOR ALLOCATING LIMITED RESOURCES WHEN MAKING SAFETY-STOCK DECISIONS

This article describes the application of a goal programming model to set safety stocks in a fixed-interval, variable order-quantity inventory system. The firm is constrained by limited storage space and capital in the determination of inventory levels. The costs resulting from the use of the proposed model are contrasted with costs resulting from an alternative method based solely upon a forecasting model. The costs considered are holding costs, stock-out costs, and the costs of acquiring excess resources. Excess resources are required when safety-stock levels, determined by the forecasting model, would utilize more than the available capital and space. The proposed model eliminates the need for acquiring excess resources at the risk of increasing the frequency and size of stock outs. A trade-off occurs between the potential for greater stock-out costs versus the costs of acquiring excess resources-borrowing additional funds or renting additional space. The goal programming model was used to set safety stocks for 15 product groups over a 46 month evaluation period for a multiproduct firm. Significant reductions in costs can be realized if the proposed model is used.     

Cultivating Professional Allies for Sexual Minority Youth: A Community-Based Educational Intervention

Sexual minority youth (SMY) face multiple risks in their daily lives that may influence their need for supportive care. Health and social service providers have unique opportunities to provide culturally competent services to these youth. This article describes a community-based educational intervention created to increase providers’ knowledge, skills, and intention to support SMY. Based on the Information-Motivation-Behavioral Skills model, this pilot study found that for a diverse sample of multidisciplinary professionals (n = 2,850), the odds of behavioral intention (BI) to support SMY were significantly higher when trainings were relevant to the professionals’ experience (OR = 1.3), were sensitive (OR = 1.3), developed skills (OR = 1.1), and incorporated policy (OR = 1.2). Implications for the delivery of community-based trainings are provided.     

Unaccompanied refugee minors and foster care: A narrative literature review

This article describes the results of a narrative literature review on empirical research examining the outcomes and/or experiences of unaccompanied refugee minors in family foster care. The limited research' in which only 17 references were identified' suggests that family foster care is an important type of care for this group and is associated with better health and psychosocial outcomes compared to other types of care. Nevertheless' breakdown of family foster care placements is a cause for concern. Four groups of factors that influence the course of family foster care placements are discussed' namely' foster family characteristics' differences in expectations between foster parents and refugee youth' cultural differences' and contextual factors. Furthermore' practical implications and suggestions for further research are described.     

Ethnic Identity,Stereotype Threat,and Perceived Discrimination Among Native American Adolescents

In this study, ethnic identity, stereotype threat, and perceived discrimination were examined in relationship to academic achievement and hopelessness in a sample of 129 Native American adolescents aged 14–19. Regression analyses with self‐reported data indicated two major findings. Ethnic identity interacted with stereotype threat to predict academic achievement, where participants with high ethnic identity and low stereotype threat scores reported higher grade point averages. Ethnic identity also interacted with perceived discrimination to predict hopelessness, where participants with low ethnic identity and high perceived discrimination scores were higher in hopelessness. Findings are discussed in light of the joint role that ethnic identity and perceived bias have in relationship to developmental outcomes in Native American adolescents.     

Communicatively Managing Religious Identity Difference in Parent-Child Relationships: The Role of Accommodative and Nonaccommodative Communication

Guided by Communication Accommodation Theory, we examine the communicative management of religious difference in parent-child relationships. Using survey data from emerging adults (N = 409), we found that religious difference is associated with decreases in relational satisfaction and shared family identity. Further, parents’ religious communication has the potential to promote relational well-being. Accommodative communication (religious-specific supportive communication and respecting divergent values) was associated with increases in relational satisfaction and shared family identity. Two forms of nonaccommodative communication (inappropriate self-disclosure and emphasizing divergent values) were associated with decreases with relational satisfaction and shared family identity; giving unwanted advice was associated with decreases in relational satisfaction but not shared family identity. Giving unwanted advice moderated the relationship between religious difference and relational satisfaction. Differences were also discovered between families with inter- and intrafaith parental dyads. Findings suggest theoretical and methodological contributions to family communication, religious, and intergroup research.     

Combining expert probabilities using the product of odds

We resolve a useful formulation of the question how a statistician can coherently incorporate the information in a consulted expert??s probability assessment for an event into a personal posterior probability assertion. Using a framework that recognises the total information available as composed of units available only to each of them along with units available to both, we show: that a sufficient statistic for all the information available to both the expert and the statistician is the product of their odds ratios in favour of the event; that the geometric mean of their two probabilities specifies a contour of pairs of assertions in the unit-square that yield the same posterior probability; that the information-combining function is parameterised by an unknown probability for the event conditioned only on the unspecified information common to both the statistician and the expert; and that an assessable mixing distribution over this unspecified probability allows an integrable mixture distribution to represent a computable posterior probability. The exact results allow the identification of the subclass of coherent probabilities that are externally Bayesian operators. This subclass is equivalent to the class of combining functions that honour the principles of uniformity and compromise.     

Die Persistenz ethnischer Ungleichheit auf dem deutschen Arbeitsmarkt

In the German labor market former labor immigrants and their descendents still occupy lower positions. In contrast to the early phase of in-migration nowadays most of the obvious structural reasons for ethnic stratification have vanished. Therefore, remaining inequalities could either be due to processes of discrimination or may result from immigrants’ permanent under-investment in human capital. In this contribution we present theoretical arguments and empirical results why the latter mechanism seems to be more important for the situation in the German labor market. Using data of the micro-census 1996 we analyze, whether labor market positions of immigrants are still lower controlling for generation and education. The findings are rather clear-cut: nearly all labor market disadvantages of the second generation can be traced back to educational differences.     

Latent Class Factor and Cluster Models, Bi-Plots, and Related Graphical Displays

We propose an alternative method of conducting exploratory latent class analysis that utilizes latent class factor models, and compare it to the more traditional approach based on latent class cluster models. We show that when formulated in terms of R mutually independent, dichotomous latent factors, the LC factor model has the same number of distinct parameters as an LC cluster model with R+1 clusters. Analyses over several data sets suggest that LC factor models typically fit data better and provide results that are easier to interpret than the corresponding LC cluster models. We also introduce a new graphical "bi-plot" display for LC factor models and compare it to similar plots used in correspondence analysis and to a barycentric coordinate display for LC cluster models. New results on identification of LC models are also presented. We conclude by describing various model extensions and an approach for eliminating boundary solutions in identified and unidentified LC models, which we have implemented in a new computer program.