HEURISTIC ALGORITHMS FOR CAPITAL-BUDGETING DECISIONS IN MULTIDIVISION FIRMS

This paper presents two versions of a heuristic algorithm to solve a model of the capital-budgeting problem in a decentralized multidivision firm involving no more than two exchanges of information between headquarters and divisions. Headquarters makes an allocation of funds to each division based upon its cash demand and its potential growth rate. Each division determines which projects to accept. Then, an additional iteration is performed to define the solution. More than one thousand examples were simulated resulting in an average relative error of less than one percent.     

The Teaching of Statistics in England: Report of the Royal Statistical Society

Some experiences with the use of student projects in experimental design courses at Wisconsin are described. Each student is given the opportunity of selecting a problem of direct interest to him/her, designing and performing an experiment, collecting and analyzing the data. Some ideas with regard to pedagogy and the use of simulated data are also discussed.     

The Read Feed: Reviews

ABSTRACT

Heylicken Moreno reviews Linked Data for Libraries, Archives and Museums: How to Clean, Link and Publish Your Metadata; Trina Boykin Nolen reviews Metaliteracy: Reinventing Information Literacy to Empower Learners; Stephanie Rosenblatt reviews Records and Information Management.     

Assessing outcomes for sufferers of severe mental disorder: A conceptual framework and review

A conceptual framework is presented for classifying the outcomes of services for sufferers of severe mental disorders. The proposed classification framework contains three dimensions: (a) the respondent type; (b) the social context; and (c) the domain of treatment outcomes. Respondent types include the client, the family, the extended social network, the clinician and the scientist. Social contexts include the individual, the family, work/school and the broader community. Domains of treatment outcome include “clinical status,” “functional status,” “life satisfaction and fulfillment,” and “safety and welfare.” This multidimensional framework is used to organize an illustrative review of existing outcome measures. It is concluded that: (a) measures of safety and welfare raise important social and policy questions and these measures require considerable development in order for utility to be realized; (b) although a good beginning has been made, more attention needs to be focused on defining and measuring “life satisfaction and fulfillment” and combining this domain with others to produce “well being” or “quality of life” scales; (c) the functional status area requires additional research and development especially when measurement is conducted in contexts other than work/school; and (d) although measures of clinical status are relatively well developed, the family perspective and context must be integrated into these measures.