Farm-household investment behaviour and the CAP decoupling: Methodological issues in assessing policy impacts

The objective of this paper is to compare and discuss the role of farm-household surveys and farm-household models in assessing the impact of the Common Agricultural Policy reforms, focusing in particular on the effects of 2003 decoupling on farm investment behaviour. The paper compares two specific approaches: (i) in-depth face-to-face interviews with farm-householders and (ii) mathematical programming models of individual farm-households. The effects of decoupling estimated by these two approaches coincide in a majority of cases, while the differences suggest relevant complementarities. Altogether the paper suggests a wider scope for using mixed methodologies in assessing CAP policy impacts.     

Sense of coherence and ill health among the unemployed and re-employed after closure of an assembly plant

The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between employment status, ill health and sense of coherence(SOC). A cross-sectional sample of the former workers at the closed down Volvo Kalmar plant in Sweden was used. A questionnaire was mailed to all identified subjects 2 years after the closure of the plant. Responses were obtained from 344 persons, of whom 173 were re-employed and 92 were unemployed. They answered the questionnaire anonymously on background variables, SOC and ill health (physical and psychological symptoms). A notable difference was found between the re-employed and unemployed, where the unemployed reported symptoms significantly more often as well as a significantly weaker SOC. A main finding in a four cell model indicated that unemployment had a rather low impact on symptoms in the presence of a strong SOC. Structural equation modelling (SEM) was performed with simultaneous analysis of the unemployed and reemployed. The SEM analysis indicated that SOC seemed to have a greater impact on psychological symptoms among unemployed compared with re-employed persons. However, it should be noted that the present study does not allow for the determination of cause-effect relationships.     

Simulating alternative organizational structures of production systems

Changes in international competition lead to changes of the requirements on production enterprises. The introduction of new production technologies does not seem to be exclusively an adequate reaction to the increasing problems. Therefore tools of computer-integrated production (CIM) and new organizational concepts have to be conceived. Because these organizational and technical means are linked on the one hand with severe changes in the production system and, on the other hand, with rather higher economic risks in their realization, the effects have to be estimated in advance in the planning stage. Consideration of dynamical system behaviour plays an important part because the main goal is the improvement of order processing. This paper presents a simulation program, which can be used during the design phase of the organizational structure of production systems as a powerful tool for predicting the effects of new computer-aided tools and structures.     

An investigation into the use of OPT production scheduling

The paper is a case study describing the experience of a single company which uses OPT software for production scheduling. The company produces a range of over 500 different items. Optimized Production Technology (OPT) is a proprietary computer software. Although the OPT software requires a similar database to MRP systems and addresses the same problems, OPT is a finite scheduler, unlike MRP which assumes (unrealistically) infinite capacity. The paper defines the underlying terminology and explains the major features of the algorithm underpinning the software. Details of the scheduling frequency, scheduling routine and reports are described. Practical implications observed are the necessity of short process routes and a multi-skilled workforce (somewhat like the case of JIT cells). Benefits of using the system are discussed.     

A modelling approach for production costing and continuous improvement of manufacturing processes

It is shown how production management constraints can be taken into account as early as the design stage of the product. It is then shown that the indication of physical and economic performances is a means to obtain integration and to continually improve the manufacturing processes. To perform continuous and efficient evaluation of physical and economic performances, the concept of activity is introduced, now acknowledged as a basic concept of cost management systems. A modelling approach is then proposed to allow each member of the design team, in a concurrent engineering context, to perform activity based modelling and estimations with simulation. After describing the set of possible situations in which this approach can be used, an application case is presented concerning a French firm, and the advantages and disadvantages of the approach are discussed.     

A human - computer interactive approach based on activity - section analysis for BPR

In any business process reengineering (BPR) project, a thorough understanding of various tasks and activities of the organization is required. Very often this idea is captured using a simple flow chart or static representation diagram. The weakness here is that the process design complexity is not adequately represented by the use of flow charts, and this allows for limited human-computer interaction during the process design and analysis. In this paper, we propose an enhanced flow chart approach; the concept of activity-section flow chart to support BPR, which is a combination of the existing activity flow chart and section flow chart. Using this approach, a human-computer interactive model for BPR is developed. This model can identify the unreasonable activity loops and excessive business rounds between sections by the adjacent and reachable matrices. Via the human-computer interaction, the process can be revised by human experience. This approach provides an efficient tool for BPR of large-scale systems. It has been applied to the material supply management system of an iron and steel works, and satisfactory results have been achieved.     

An opportunity for system dynamics in manufacturing system modelling

The computer simulation of manufacturing systems is commonly carried out using discrete event simulation (DES). Indeed, there appears to be a lack of applications of continuous simulation methods, particularly system dynamics (SD), despite evidence that this technique is suitable for industrial modelling. This paper investigates whether this is due to a decline in the general popularity of SD, or whether modelling of manufacturing systems represents a missed opportunity for SD. On this basis, the paper first gives a review of the concept of SD and fully describes the modelling technique. Following on, a survey of the published applications of SD in the 1990s is made by developing and using a structured classification approach. From this review, observations are made about the application of the SD method and opportunities for future research are suggested.     

Modelling relationships between job stressors and injury and near-miss outcomes for construction labourers

Construction work is an inherently dangerous occupation and exposure to additional job stressors is likely to exacerbate the level of danger, increasing workers’ risk for injury. Thus, it is important to identify and then reduce worker exposure to extraneous job stressors. This study examines the relationships between a variety of job stressors and injury or near-miss outcomes among construction workers. Self-reported questionnaire data collected from 408 construction labourers (male and female) via telephone interview were analysed using structural equation modelling. A theoretical model was tested whereby work stressors, classified into three groups, could be related, either directly or indirectly through the mediating effects of physical or psychological symptoms/strain, to self-reported injuries and near misses. Ten of the 12 work-related stressors were found to be directly related to either injury or near misses, including: job demands, job control, job certainty, training, safety climate, skill under-utilization, responsibility for the safety of others, safety compliance, exposure hours, and job tenure. Other stressors (i.e. harassment/discrimination, job certainty, social support, skill under-utilization, safety responsibility, safety compliance, tenure in construction) were indirectly related to injuries through physical symptoms or indirectly related to near misses through psychological strain. There was no support for the modelled gender differences. Implications for health and safety on construction sites are discussed.     

Economic deprivation,maternal depression,parenting and children's cognitive and emotional development in early childhood1

This study uses data from the UK Millennium Cohort Study to examine the extent to which economic circumstances in infancy and mother's mental well‐being are associated with children's cognitive development and behaviour problems at age 3 years, and what part parenting behaviours and attitudes play in mediating these factors. The analyses derived from Structural Equation Modelling show that economic deprivation and maternal depression separately and collectively diminish the cognitive and emotional well‐being of children, and part of this diminution emanates from less nurturing and engaged parenting by those with less economic and emotional resources.     

Job characteristics as predictors of ill-health and sickness absenteeism in different occupational types--a multigroup structural equation modelling approach

The objective of the present study was to test for multigroup invariance in measurement models and structural models between job characteristics, psychosocial intervening variables, health outcomes and sickness absenteeism. Four types of occupation were represented in the study: blue-collar workers ( n = 241), white-collar workers ( n = 209), elderly-care workers ( n = 338) and child-care workers ( n = 336). A first-order, six-factor multigroup confirmatory factor analysis model (i.e. measurement model) composed of two perceived job characteristics ( job autonomy and skill discretion), appraised workload, job satisfaction, stress-related ill-health and sickness absenteeism provided a good model fit. Invariance tests showed that the six-factor model fits well for all occupations. A partially recursive mediated multigroup structural model showed both similarities and differences across occupations as regards the relationships between independent latent variables ( job autonomy, skill discretion), intervening latent variables (appraised workload, job satisfaction) and dependent latent variables (stressrelated ill-health, sickness absenteeism). By comparing a generic model with occupation-specific models across occupations, this study showed that occupation-specific models were more plausible. The results indicate that it is important to examine different occupational contexts in detail to better understand how certain psychosocial factors at work influence strain in different occupations. Since job characteristics can potentially be amended, the findings have important implications for the differentiation of prevention and intervention in different occupations.