Business games and implementation research

This paper reviews some recent research in OR implementation and suggests that a new approach is required, which will take fuller account of the perceptions of managers concerned with the problem. Research games in business settings seem to offer a means for such approach. Some lessons learned from a business game used in this way are described and their implications for modelbuilders are discussed.     

Racial Discrimination, Post Traumatic Stress, and Gambling Problems among Urban Aboriginal Adults in Canada

Little is known about risk factors for problem gambling (PG) within the rapidly growing urban Aboriginal population in North America. Racial discrimination may be an important risk factor for PG given documented associations between racism and other forms of addictive behaviour. This study examined associations between racial discrimination and problem gambling among urban Aboriginal adults, and the extent to which this link was mediated by post traumatic stress. Data were collected via in-person surveys with a community-based sample of Aboriginal adults living in a mid-sized city in western Canada (N = 381) in 2010. Results indicate more than 80 % of respondents experienced discrimination due to Aboriginal race in the past year, with the majority reporting high levels of racism in that time period. Past year racial discrimination was a risk factor for 12-month problem gambling, gambling to escape, and post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms in bootstrapped regression models adjusted for confounders and other forms of social trauma. Elevated PTSD symptoms among those experiencing high levels of racism partially explained the association between racism and the use of gambling to escape in statistical models. These findings are the first to suggest racial discrimination may be an important social determinant of problem gambling for Aboriginal peoples. Gambling may be a coping response that some Aboriginal adults use to escape the negative emotions associated with racist experiences. Results support the development of policies to reduce racism directed at Aboriginal peoples in urban areas, and enhanced services to help Aboriginal peoples cope with racist events.     

RIGHT‐WING EXTREMISM IN CONTEMPORARY FRANCE: A “Silent Counterrevolution”?

Postmaterialist theory (PMT) challenges Lipset and Rokkan's freezing hypothesis by arguing that conflict over noneconomic values is transforming the political sociology of advanced industrial societies. Hardly studied is PMT's claim that support for the contemporary far Right stems from a reaction against the social and moral libertarianism of postwar generations. An analysis of cross-time data on the class, generational, and ideological profiles of voting for a French far Right party (the Front national) provides weak support for PMT. The discussion focuses on class and religious cleavages in postwar France and the discrepancy between voter attitudes and party platforms.     

Experience with a multi-year fleet planning model

The fleet planning problem requires determination of the changing airline fleet mix based on existing traffic levels and projected growth, on the existing fleet, various aircraft types available in the future, and other operational and financial considerations. Several applicable mathematical formulations have been reported. One of these has been programmed for the computer and used by the authors for several years. This paper discusses the application of that model to real airline planning situations. Such practical experience has effected changes in the program and the manner it is used in fleet planning studies.     

Dissenting families and social movement abeyance: the transmission of neo-fascist frames in postwar Italy

What explains the re‐emergence of social movements after abeyance? Based on interviews with activists who belonged to the Italian neo‐fascist movement of the late 1960s to early 1980s, this article documents the preservation of a neo‐fascist mobilization potential after 1945 through the parent‐child transmission of frames. This process involved learning through talk, action and text. Both the nature of family frames and their congruence with movement frames depended on whether parents were right‐wing or non‐partisan. Research on abeyance should include the family among institutions that uphold continuity between waves of contention in pluralist regimes.     

Hard and soft constraints in linear programming

The linear programme and its constraints are split into two parts. The first consists of the traditional structure, the second being akin to goal programming. SOFT constraints are weighted relative to each other and then approximately weighted relative to the HARD constraints. The LP is run four times giving different emphasis to the SOFT and HARD constraints. The manager requesting the LP has then to decide which gives the most appropriate solution.     

Economic lot disposition policies for single attribute sampling plans

Traditionally, single sampling plans have provided but two possible lot disposition policies, either to (1) accept or reject and screen, or to (2) accept or reject and scrap. This is particularly true of statistical designs. Economically based plans, however, provide a framework wherein several lot disposition policies may be invoked in accordance with estimated lot quality. This paper illustrates how such designs may be realized.     

Joint strategic planning between health and local authorities

This paper describes an approach to joint consideration of strategic planning problems between Health Authorities and Local Authorities. It is currently being pilot tested in the UK by two Area Health Authorities and their corresponding County Councils. The approach is most effective in planning the provision of health and social services for periods between three and ten years ahead and has been particularly designed for planning the non-acute services. These are the services for which joint planning between the health and social services is most important. Depending on local needs and planning priorities the approach may be used for one or more ‘client groups’ (the Elderly, Mentally Ill, Mentally Handicapped, Physically Handicapped etc.). In the pilot applications the approach is being used in planning for the Elderly client group only. The model now used relies on very simple assumptions, arithmetic calculations, and a heuristic optimisation algorithm, in place of a previous mathematical programming model originally aimed at national planning needs and then adapted to local planning. The revised model has achieved these simplifications, while extending the power of the model to fit local needs, by separating out different parts of the problem corresponding to different stages in the planning process, and developing techniques appropriate to each. In a companion paper² in this issue authors from the participating Authorities put their views on the pilot applications of the approach.