bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Measuring Progress Towards Social Goals: Some Possibilities at National and Local Levels
Authors: Terleckyj Nestor E. 
Published: November 2008

The need for progress in measuring social change is evident. Without measurement it is improbable that desirable goals can be reached. Yet, in contrast to a few exceptionally advanced fields, most areas of social concern and public policy suffer from lack of even the most elementary information, leaving the field wide open for guessing, emotion, low-grade politics, and waste, while the problems remain. Considerable progress is feasible, however. The existing information can be organized and provided regularly, and serious work can be initiated to develop information now missing altogether, improve existing information, and develop workable ways for communicating data. This paper, drawn from the experience of an on-going project, deals with the measurement of social goals. Indicators can be identified which reflect reasonably well critical aspects of some of the most important objectives not only of individuals and families but also of local, state, and federal governments. About 20 such indicators were selected including life-expectancy at birth and the number of persons with chronic disabilities as the indicators reflecting the health goals, the rate of violent crimes as the measure of public safety, the number of persons in poverty and in near-poverty as indicative of concerns with equity, etc. Most of this information had to be pieced together. The existing statistical systems are not geared to provide it. Big gape exist. For many concerns, e.g., quality of the physical environment, where the concepts for measurement can be specified the data do not exist. In still other fields, e.g., “leisure” or discretionary time, even the conceptual work remains to be done. Very useful local information systems describing many important aspects of social change can be put together with the information now in existence without much trouble. More complete reporting systems, and systems aimed at assessment of possibilities for future changes require much additional basic and development work.
The Impact of Cybernetic Information Technology on Management Value Systems
Authors: Ericson Richard F. 
Published: November 2008

The first three sections of the paper are background discussions of relevant types of value questions. First, we consider the historical evolution of managerial value conflict, as they are rooted in a fundamental value polarisation reflected in U. S. society. Then we relate management values to environmental values, especially in the corporate context. Finally, we review contemporary analyses of the bases of general value systems, and consider their relationship to current research in management value systems. The fourth section is concerned with the other prong of our general analysis: After reviewing several examples of cybernetic system models, we consider their relevance for management systems in terms of the apparent future organizational impacts of the so-called “information technology.” Section five brings us to the heart of our discussion: an estimation of the likely impacts of better understanding of organisational cybernetics upon management value systems. A paradigm of ecosystem (ecological system) influence upon organizational policy formation is presented, together with a schematic organizational ecosystem decision matrix for management. In the final section of the paper, we relate corporate values to the emerging organizational ecosphere, emphasizing that cybernetic information technology creates new possibilities effectively to implement appropriate redefinitions of traditional management values.
Information Processing and Programmed Decision Systems
Authors: Kriebel Charles H. 
Published: November 2008

The capacity to evaluate decisions and information within a unified analytical model of the firm is at best a complex task. Even if, for the sake of simplicity, we ignore the effects of human behavior within organizations, most research on information processing design and evaluation has sought simulation in lieu of an explicit mathematical model. The purpose of this discussion is to suggest some practical extensions of the decision theory model for the design of management information processing systems and to illustrate these ideas through the detailed analysis of an aggregate planning problem.
Optimal Production, Investment, Advertising, and Price Controls for the Dynamic Monopoly Firm
Authors: Thompson Russell G. , Proctor Michael S. 
Published: November 2008

In this paper, a dynamic continuous time model, encompassing operations, investments, output prices, informative advertising, and brand advertising, is formulated as an optimal control problem in an activity analysis context. In the model, the objective of the firm is to maximise, subject to various constraints, the discounted value of accumulated savings over the finite decision-making interval plus the discounted value of capacity at the end of the interval. The state variables are capacity, goodwill of type 1 reflecting informative advertising, goodwill of type 2 reflecting brand advertising, net debt, and the output price. The controls are the scale of operation, the purchase of new capacity, informative advertising, brand advertising, and the rate of change of the output price. Final capacity, goodwill of types 1 and 2, net debt, and price are control parameters. There are several inequality constraints. Using results in control theory, the optimal controls are completely characterized. These results are interpreted using the properties of the Value Equation. In addition, the control problem is transformed into an approximate programming problem.
Models of Fact: Examples from Marketing
Authors: Ehrenberg A. S. C. 
Published: November 2008

The first step in model-building is to note some simple observable patterns and to establish their degree of empirical generalisation. The second step is to integrate different empirical relationships of this kind. This is where the more complex mathematical models come in. Two examples of model-building in marketing are discussed and the empirical approach is contrasted with the prevalent tendency either to try to develop mathematical models without any prior empirical knowledge (“sonking”), or to search for statistical significance as an end in itself. The basic question in model-building remains as follows: Take away the mathematical language and what generalised factual knowledge of the process in question still remains? If the answer is none, the mathematical symbol for that is very simple.
The Theory of Networks and Management Science. Part I
Authors: Elmaghraby Salah E. 
Published: November 2008

An expository treatment of three network models most often encountered in Management Science applications: (i) The Shortest Path Problems, (ii) Flow Networks, and (iii) Activity Networks. In the first problem are discussed the shortest path between two specified nodes; the shortest distance matrix; as well as the special case of directed acyclic networks. In the second problem, a brief exposition of the “labeling procedure” leads into multiterminal networks and the general minimal cost circulation problem and a discussion of the “out-of-kilter” method. In the third problem, the “classical” models of CPM and PERT are reviewed, together with a discussion of generalized activity networks and the viewing of GERT as a signal flow graph of a semi-Markov process. Illustrations of the application of each model are also given. The first two models appear in the September issue; and the third model in the October issue of Management Science.
Problem Solving with Ordinal Measurement
Authors: Bartee Edwin M. 
Published: November 2008

Modern socio-political-economic problems often represent situations in which the traditional numerical problem models fall far short of being adequate for determining formal solutions. The basic reason for this inadequacy is the fact that the objective functions in such problems contain abstract criteria. It, therefore, is difficult, if not impossible, to determine how much one alternative in the problem is preferred to another alternative. When such information is not available in a problem, a numerical model will serve to fabricate this information and, therefore, reduce the degree of isomorphism between the problem and the problem model. A linear program that uses a relations set as its objective function can maintain isomorphism. In such models, the single optimal solution may not be determinable. However, if the set of feasible solutions is ordered, the optimal solution can be determined. The same ordered approach also has some useful applications to games.
The Product-Mix Problem under Stochastic Seasonal Demand
Authors: Hodges S. D. , Moore P. G. 
Published: November 2008

The product-mix problem of production planning is to determine the best quantity of each product to manufacture, over a complete range of products competing for a number of limited resources. This paper examines the problem when uncertainty of demand is a major factor, making any differences between the penalties of over- and under-production important. In these circumstances the basic linear programming technique is insufficient, and a model has been developed as a multi-item newsboy problem in which a number of linear resource constraints affect the decision variables. The formulation is one of linear programming under uncertainty. A marginal analysis approach is used to obtain a detailed insight into the structure of the solution and to develop an effective computational procedure. Very little additional data is required, beyond that needed for a conventional linear program.
Management Science Education: Nature and Nurture
Authors: Howard Ronald A. 
Published: November 2008

I have earlier commented on the need for practicality in management science education. Here I would like to emphasize the form of the educational program and the personal characteristics of those who complete it successfully. The crucial problem in education would seem to be the development of individuals who have the intellectual curiosity and competence of our best research students and yet retain the pragmatism, perception, and judgment of our best practitioners. I believe that one answer to this problem is a Ph.D. level professional program that combines a unified view of theory with the opportunity to test the theory in practice. I believe further that the key to integration is the utilization of a new language for decision processes founded on decision theory and systems analysis—the language of decision analysis.
Management Science Education
Authors: Thrall Robert M. 
Published: November 2008

In this brief comment on education and management science I will focus my attention on what the universities should provide, recognizing (1) that this is only one part of a management scientist's education and (2) that not all management scientists fit into a single mold. In general the universities seem to be doing excellently in teaching the basic mathematical skills. They have developed courses covering all phases of mathematical programming, statistics, and stochastic processes. They are doing increasingly well in offering computer science courses relevant to management science (e.g. simulation, file manipulation). By contrast, truly relevant courses in the behavioral sciences seem to be much less well developed as are courses centered on the philosophy and practice of management science and operations research.
Operations Research as a Profession
Authors: Churchman C. West 
Published: November 2008

This paper is concerned with the profession of operations research and specifically with the preparation for the profession. On a fairly general plain, the paper expresses a concern about the future of a profession which ought to be in the lead in the growing societal anxiety over poverty, pollution and privacy, but in fact plays virtually no significant role in these matters. In his autobiography, Memories, Dreams, Reflections, C. G. Jung argues for a fascinating way of telling the story of one's life. There are, he says, two stories. One story is the rational, a story of a man's struggles, frustrations and joys in seeking his life's goals. The other is the “irrational,” the primitive often unexpressed mythic elements of his life. At some risk of perverting the richness of Jung's suggestion, I'd like to tell two stories of a profession, operations research, but in the end I'll not be sure which is the rational. The reason for telling these two stories is to obtain a critical overview of the profession of operations research, primarily to assess its educational base, not just in colleges and universities, but in the overall program of learning: in meetings, journals and informal discussions.
An Approach to the Analysis of Vocational Education and Training Requirements
Authors: Kodama Fumio 
Published: November 2008

Systematic approaches to the problems of education and training are difficult because so many social and psychological variables are involved. As education and training can be viewed as a system, system analysis can be applied. Therefore, in this study, the education and training system is formalized in the form of a matrix which shows the relationship between curriculum and the behavior of the skilled worker who is adequately educated and trained. Based on the matrix, the optimal time allocation in the curriculum was solved. Crane work in the Japanese steel industry was selected as the subject of the study and the procedures by which the formalization can be applied to a practical problem were developed.
An Adaptive Group Theoretic Algorithm for Integer Programming Problems
Authors: Gorry G. Anthony , Shapiro Jeremy F. 
Published: November 2008

Group theory is used to integrate a wide variety of integer programming methods into a common computational process. Included are group optimization algorithms, Lagrangian methods, the cutting plane method, and the method of surrogate constraints. These methods are controlled by a supervisor which performs four main functions: set-up, directed search, subproblem analysis, and prognosis. Some computational experience is given. One appendix contains an algorithm for dynamically solving unconstrained group problems. A second appendix gives an algorithm for solving zero-one group problems.
Considering Competition in Media Planning
Authors: Lodish Leonard M. 
Published: November 2008

A normative mathematical procedure for the media planning problem is proposed which explicitly considers the effect of competitors' media schedules. A predictive model is developed to evaluate expected market response due to an advertising media schedule considering the anticipated schedules of competitors as well as other major advertising phenomena. Heuristic search routines are used to select and schedule media with the objective of maximizing market response subject to budget limitations. The procedure has been applied on real problems. The market response model first divides people into market segments which are characterized by product class sales potential. Ads placed by the competing firms cause people in segments to be exposed to this advertising and thereby create a level of exposure value which decays over time in the absence of new exposures. The individual's response during a time period is a function of his retained exposure value for each competing firm and his market segment. Summing over individuals and over time to obtain total market response is approximated analytically using media coverage and overlap data that is relatively easy to gather and store.
Economic Ordering Frequency for two Items Jointly Replenished
Authors: Shu Frank T. 
Published: November 2008

The decision model to be presented is typically applicable to the batch processing industry where a batch of product is blended and subsequently packaged into various types of containers. When a product is packaged into more than one type container immediately after its manufacture, these items are said to be jointly replenished. In the case of joint replenishment, the economic lot size for each item cannot be determined without considering the rest of the items within the group. This is so because each time a batch of a product is made, there is a primary set-up cost for the manufacture of the product and a secondary set-up cost for each of the items to be packaged within the jointly replenished group. If the packaging set-up costs are very high, it may be more economical to package certain “slow moving” items less often than the “fast moving items.” Specifically, one could package a “slow moving” item once every other time or every third time a batch of product is made. An analytical model has been developed to provide a set of criteria which one can use as a basis for applying “skipping rules” to the slow moving item within a jointly replenished group.
Queue Length Dependent Priority Queues
Authors: Balachandran K. R. 
Published: November 2008

Priority rules that are mixtures of pre-emption and postponable rules are analyzed. Whether a pre-emption occurs is made to depend on some factor in addition to priority class. A lower priority customer is pre-empted if and only if the queue length of higher priority customers is N, a decision parameter. The stochastic model (without priorities) is that of the M/G/1 queue. First moment expressions (e.g., expected number of customers in the system) in the steady state case are obtained for each priority class, using the concept of work conservation. A linear cost model is introduced which is a function of expected waiting time and expected number of pre-emptions. By considering a parametric class of rules determined by the decision parameter, the problem of finding an optimal rule is formulated.
The Gradient Projection Method Along Geodesics
Authors: Luenberger David G. 
Published: November 2008

The method of steepest descent for solving unconstrained minimization problems is well understood. It is known, for instance, that when applied to a smooth objective function f, and converging to a solution point x where the corresponding Hessian matrix F(x) is positive definite, the asymptotic rate of convergence is given by the Kantorovich ratio (β − α)2/(β + α)2, where α and β are respectively the smallest and largest eigenvalues of the Hessian matrix F(x). This result is one of the major sharp results on convergence of minimization algorithms. In this paper a corresponding result is given for the gradient projection method for solving constrained minimization problems. It is shown that the asymptotic rate of convergence of gradient projection methods is also given by a Kantorovich ratio, but with α and β being determined by the Lagrangian associated with the problem. Specifically, if L is the Hessian of the Lagrangian evaluated at the solution, α and β are the smallest and largest eigenvalues of L when restricted to the subspace tangent to the constraint surface. This result is a natural extension of the one for unconstrained problems. Unlike the unconstrained situation where linear analysis is natural, the constrained situation is inherently nonlinear since analysis must be confined to the constraint surface. This technical difficulty would obscure the basic simplicity of the analysis if it were not for the introduction of the concept of geodesic descent which restores order to an otherwise potentially chaotic and unexciting analysis.
An Upperbound Algorithm for the Single and Multiple Terminal Delivery Problem
Authors: Tillman Frank A. , Cain Thomas M. 
Published: November 2008

An upperbound algorithm is presented for solving the multiterminal delivery problem. The method involves determining savings from joining points on routes and making possible assignments as a function of the maximum savings for joining cities on routes. The algorithm permits restrictions to be imposed on the system. If all possibilities are investigated, this approach will lead to an optimal solution using savings as the criterion to be optimized. In practice this may be very time consuming so a limited version is presented where only the most promising nodes are investigated. The methodology developed is applicable to the single terminal problem, since it is a special case of the multiterminal problem. A computer program has been written and a set of problems were solved with the algorithm using an IBM 360/50 computer. The results of a series of single and multi-terminal problems are illustrated in the paper. As is evident from these results the time required to solve a problem increases as a function of the number of demand points and the number of terminals.
Optimal Replacement Policies for a Single Loaded Sliding Standby
Authors: Henin Claude 
Published: November 2008

The purpose of this paper is to define an optimal replacement policy for identical components performing different functions in a given system, when one spare part is available. It is assumed that the failure law of the component and of the spare part is known and that the mission of the system has a duration T, that the components cannot be permuted and that the breakage of a given component, i, produces a certain loss Li per unit of time it remains out of use. The optimal policy r*(x) is first computed for the two components—one spare part case by minimizing the expected loss over that set of policies consisting of replacing, if possible, the most expensive component, when it fails and waiting until a certain time τ(x) for replacing the other component should it fail at time x. For exponential failure laws and with certain restrictions, concave laws, τ*(x) = τ* is independent of x for x ≦ r* and is equal to x for x > τ*. The n components case is then considered in which the optimal policy is defined by a sequence τi*(x)(i = 1,…, n), where τi*(x) represents the time at which the replacement of component i by the spare part will occur, should component i break at time x and no other component, whose loss is more expensive, break before τi*(x).
Portfolio Performance and the Investment Horizon
Authors: Levy Haim 
Published: November 2008

Following the equilibrium model which has been developed by Sharpe, Lintner and Treynor, several authors have developed one-parameter indexes as measures of performance. In this paper, it is shown that as long as the “true” horizon does not coincide with the horizon assumed in the empirical research, the one-parameter indexes contain a systematic bias, even when one assumes a perfect market. In conducting empirical research or in evaluating the performance of the management of a portfolio, more attention should be devoted to the selection of the investment horizon, since the magnitude as well as the direction of the systematic bias is a function of this factor.
Axiomatic Characterization of the Time-Weighted Rate of Return
Authors: Gray Kenneth B. , Dewar Robert B. K. 
Published: November 2008

In a recently published banking industry study [Fisher, Lawrence. 1968. Measuring rates of return. Chapter 2 in James H. Lorie et al., Measuring the Investment Performance of Pension Funds for the Purpose of Inter-Fund Comparison, Bank Administration Institute, Park Ridge, Illinois.], it was pointed out that the venerable internal rate of return is inappropriate for measuring the performance of pension fund managers. It is suggested that a measure of management performance should depend solely on the way in which the manager proportions the fund's resources and not on fund contributions and withdrawals. Unfortunately, the internal rate depends on this contribution and withdrawal pattern. The banking industry study proposed a new measure, the time-weighted rate of return, which is not dependent on the contribution and withdrawal pattern. The study, however, was incomplete in that it did not state or show that the time-weighted rate is the only well-behaved rate of return that is not influenced by contributions or withdrawals. The latter result is developed in this paper.