Erratum: Amplification in Service Supply Chains: An Exploratory Case Study from the Telecom Industry

This erratum contains the appendix that was omitted from the original paper by H. Akkermans and B. Vos, “Amplification in service supply chains: an exploratory study from the telecom industry”, Production and Operations Management, 12, 2, 204–223.     

Designing with users to meet people needs: a teaching model

Being in a context of great transformations of the whole system company-product-market, design becomes interpreter of the society and strategic key-point for production realities. Design must assume an ergonomic approach and a methodology oriented to product innovation where people are the main focus of the system. Today it is visible the need for a methodological approach able to include the context of use employing user's "creative skills". In this scenario, a design educational model based only on knowledge doesn't seem to be fulfilling; the traditional "deductive" method doesn't meet the needs of new productive assets, here the urgency to experiment within the "inductive" method for the development of a method where to know and to know how, theory and practice, act synergistically. The aim is to teach a method able to help a young designer to understand people's needs and desires considering both the concrete/cognitive level and the emotional level. The paper presents, through some case studies, an educational model developed combining theoretical/conceptual and practical/applicatory aspects with user experiential aspects. The proposed approach to design enables the students to investigate users' needs and desires and helps them proposing innovative ideas and projects better fitting today's market realities.     

The Economic Impact of Progressive Neurological Illness on Quality of Life in Australia

The current study examined the impact of financial costs and self-reported economic pressure on the quality of life of patients with progressive neurological illness. Participants were 423 people from four illness groups in Australia. Participants completed measures of (a) quality of life, (b) income, (c) expenses, (d) economic pressure, (e) social support, (f) relationship satisfaction, and (g) severity of illness. There was a strong negative association between quality of life and economic pressure (but not income or expenses) for all groups. Subjective assessment of economic pressure was strongly associated with quality of life for people with motor neurone disease and multiple sclerosis. Implications of these results for assisting people with progressive neurological illnesses to cope with the financial changes that occur due to their illness are discussed.     

Psychological factors and the sexuality of pregnant and postpartum women

This study examined the influence of role quality, relationship satisfaction, fatigue, and depression on women s sexuality during pregnancy and after childbirth. Questionnaire data were obtained from 138 women pregnant with their first child, of whom 104 responded at 12 weeks postpartum, and 70 responded at 6 months postpartum. Women reported significant reductions in sexuality during pregnancy and postpartum. Relationship satisfaction explained levels of sexual satisfaction during pregnancy, and was a predictor of sexual desire in the postpartum. Depression was an important predictor of reduced sexual desire and sexual satisfaction during pregnancy, and of reduced frequency of intercourse at 12 weeks postpartum. At 6 months postpartum, the quality of the mother role strongly related to measures of sexuality. Throughout the perinatal period, fatigue impacted on measures of sexuality, either directly or/and indirectly. The implications of these results in terms of the impact of pregnancy and childbirth on relationships and sexuality are discussed.     

Income sufficiency v. poverty Results from the United States and The Netherlands

The purpose of this paper is to further the understanding of subjective measures used to assess poverty and to add to the literature on poverty measurement methodology. In particular, the paper focuses on the minimum income question (MIQ) first proposed by Goedhart and colleagues (1977). Data from the U.S. Consumer Expenditure Survey and from a Dutch newspaper survey are used. The primary contribution of the paper is the inclusion of household expenditures as additional explanatory variables of minimally necessary income. Significant differences between the coefficients of several categories of expenditures, particularly for leisure, appear to reveal differences in the interpretation of the minimum income question by respondents. Thus, we question the underlying assumption of the MIQ that everyone adheres the same welfare meaning to the phrase “minimally necessary income,” and conclude that the resulting thresholds should not be used as to measure poverty before further research has been carried out to explore what respondents are thinking when they answer questions such as the MIQ.     

A Note on the Living Arrangements of Elders 1970–2000, with Special Emphasis on Hispanic Subgroup Differentials

Previous research suggests that Hispanic elders, as a group, have been much more likely to live with others, especially adult children, than have other, especially non-Hispanic White, elders. It has also tracked an increase in solitary and couple-only living among the latter group since the turn of the century. However, it has not tracked changed living arrangements among Hispanic elders. When we do so, we find little aggregate change since 1970, but noteworthy change in different directions among different Hispanic subgroups. Thus aggregate figures for a diverse minority group may be masking very real changes and makes it all the more imperative that we consider different Latino groups separately and try to better understand issues of immigration and acculturation.     

Sensitivity Analysis to Evaluate the Impact of Uncertain Factors in a Scenario Tree Model for Classical Swine Fever Introduction

Introduction of classical swine fever virus (CSFV) is a continuing threat to the pig production sector in the European Union. A scenario tree model was developed to obtain more insight into the main risk factors determining the probability of CSFV introduction (P(CSFV)). As this model contains many uncertain input parameters, sensitivity analysis was used to indicate which of these parameters influence model results most. Group screening combined with the statistical techniques of design of experiments and meta-modeling was applied to detect the most important uncertain input parameters among a total of 257 parameters. The response variable chosen was the annual P(CSFV) into the Netherlands. Only 128 scenario calculations were needed to specify the final meta-model. A consecutive one-at-a-time sensitivity analysis was performed with the main effects of this meta-model to explore their impact on the ranking of risk factors contributing most to the annual P(CSFV). The results indicated that model outcome is most sensitive to the uncertain input parameters concerning the expected number of classical swine fever epidemics in Germany, Belgium, and the United Kingdom and the probability that CSFV survives in an empty livestock truck traveling over a distance of 0-900 km.