bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Misapplications Reviews: The Capital Punishment Controversy: Part I
Authors: Barnett Arnold 
Published: October 2008

Few questions in the social sciences have spawned so much empirical research as whether capital punishment can deter murders. An odd collection of inquirers that includes sociologists, lawyers, economists, psychologists, statisticians, and philosophers have examined data that cross the boundaries between nations and centuries; their methods of analysis have ranged from the techniques of multivariate statistics to the recitation of juicy anecdotes. Professor Ernest Van den Haag (1) was not abusing reality when he characterized capital punishment research as a “cottage industry.” The conclusions of the studies have been almost as diverse as their methods and data sources. While a majority have discerned no significant association between execution and homicide levels, several have supported the hypothesis of strong deterrent effects. Some have argued that executions postpone some killings but do not avert them, while others claim to have shown that capital sanctions actually stimulate homicides. (This last finding could make sense if, because of the death penalty, those who kill deem it urgent also to kill witnesses and to resist police capture with gunfire.) An unsurprising result of this cacophony is that partisans of all positions in the capital punishment controversy can cite scholarly investigations to buttress their viewpoints.
The Implementation Exchange: Science and Affairs
Authors: Schultz Randall L. , Slevin Dennis P. 
Published: October 2008

In October 1982, the Graduate School of Business at the University of Pittsburgh sponsored a national conference entitled “Producing Useful Knowledge for Organizations.” Behavioral scientists from around the nation were invited to present their views concerning rigor versus relevance and the overall usefulness of organizational research. The interest shown in the conference and the positions taken by the participants clearly indicated to us that a tremendous dilemma exists in the behavioral sciences between rigor and relevance; validity and impact; truth and pragmatism. Such a dilemma also exists in the management sciences. Managers are people of affairs. They conduct business; they engage in transactions with other people; they implement things; they, in one word, do. Scientists are people of knowledge. They are interested in systematizing knowledge through observation, study, experimentation, replication, and the use of all available scientific tools to develop truth.
From the Shadows
Authors: Hirshfeld David S. 
Published: October 2008

Is there a proper role for linear programming in corporate strategic planning; if so, what is it? Planners and executives generally believe that strategic planning involves too many essential factors that are subjective, uncontrollable, uncertain, and non-quantifiable to be amenable to quantitative analysis, in general, and to optimization methods, in particular. That belief needs to be re-examined. Consultants (like Nature) abhor a vacuum, even a conceptual one. So, over the last decade or so, a number of analytical tools have been developed and applied to corporate strategic planning: the growth-share matrix, the GE-McKinsey screen, PIMS, the “experience curve,” and others. The “portfolio analysis” approach embodied in these tools has swept the field, even as optimization has in tactical and operations planning.
Implementation Exchange: Self-Starters in MS/OR—A Growth Area
Authors: Lockett Geoff 
Published: October 2008

There has been much discussion about the future of MS/OR and about how MS/OR ought to change if it is to survive and prosper. But in general the literature speaks for MS/OR practitioners, rather than the subject itself, and there has been some evidence that MS/OR is no longer contained within the profession. In a recent survey of 100 managers about 50 percent stated that they had used OR, and 20 percent of this group had done it themselves. It is this latter phenomenon that interests us here; we will call them “self-starters.”
Seen Elsewhere
Authors: Morgan J. I. 
Published: October 2008

“Seen Elsewhere” consists of digests of articles on the application and implementation of management science seen in other publications. —Nutt, Paul C. (Ohio State University) 1984, “Pseudoplanning,” Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Vol. 25, No. 2 (April), pp. 91–108 —Hertz, David B. (University of Miami), 1983, “Artificial intelligence and the business manager,” Computerworld, Vol. 17, No. 43 (October 24, 1983) pp. ID 20–26.
Misapplications Reviews: Newswatch
Authors: Barnett Arnold 
Published: October 2008

Everybody knows that some people lie with statistics and that others, while having no intention to deceive, nonetheless cite figures in misleading ways. But this knowledge has not stopped the widespread and often preposterous misuse of statistics in the newspapers and magazines and on the television and radio. And I am referring to data “analyses” that are transparently weak, not the unknown number of others that appear plausible but would collapse under scrutiny. Let me not weaken the case by overstating it. Seldom do the data presented actually refute the point they were meant to support. Far more often, the problem is that numbers consistent with a wide range of hypotheses are offered as proof of the correctness of one of them. And with distressing frequency, the hypothesis “confirmed” in this manner is not the one the Goddess of Reason would have chosen in advance.
Misapplications Reviews: The Parable of the Red Line
Authors: Barnett Arnold , Saponaro Anthony 
Published: October 2008

For several years, the Massachusetts Bay Transit Authority (MBTA) has been expanding its rapid-transit Red Line northward from Cambridge. The required excavations have caused much pain: traffic jams are even worse than before, large numbers of people have been uprooted from their homes, and a hideous ditch has dominated Harvard Square for almost half a decade. Many suspect that the benefits of the extension—even if extrapolated through T = ∞—cannot possibly outweigh the agony that accompanied its construction. For a long time, however, the project had no effect on service on the existing Red Line. But that situation changed in the fall of 1983, when the tracks were diverted to include a short stretch in the new tunnel. At once, major troubles with the automatic signals and train-turnaround facilities induced all kinds of delays. The disruption once confined to a section of Cambridge spread quickly to the heart of Boston and the city's southern suburbs; now 125,000 daily riders joined the earlier victims of the Red Line's improvements.
Introduction: Productivity as a Strategic Variable
Authors: Starr Martin K. 
Published: October 2008

We have taken a lot of time to prepare this special issue of Interfaces, which treats productivity as a strategic variable. By strategic, rather than tactical, we mean the whole picture instead of piece by piece. We mean a dynamic evaluation in which the evolution of technology, shifts in competitive capabilities, and managerial learning take place. Another goal was to obtain articles from experts whose work is at the cutting edge and whose contributions can be implemented. We hope that management science and OR practitioners will factor the ideas presented in this special issue into the models they build and use. We hope that academic programs will integrate the concepts into the existing body of knowledge, assumptions, and teaching. We hope that all research will be affected and redirected.
The 10 Commandments of Service System Management
Authors: Chase Richard B. 
Published: October 2008

There is no need to recount the statistics relating to service system growth or the frequent calls to utilize productivity as a strategic variable. These issues are well understood—services are the most rapidly growing of our economic sectors, and there is plenty of effort being devoted to studying ways of improving their productivity. What is needed, in my opinion, is a better understanding of the very nature of services themselves, and more specifically, some practical philosophy for designing the service delivery process. These two related issues can be addressed by 10 “commandments” gleaned from my 10 years of studying services, my recent research on branch banking, and a lifetime of living with services as a consumer. In order to provide some structure to an admittedly idiosyncratic list, the commandments are grouped under the following headings: The Facility, The Customer, and The Server. (In reading the list and explanations, please assume that the normal academic caveats such as “other things being equal” and “subject to cost/benefit analysis” have been stated. In other words, grant me exemption from the type II error.)
Note: More Gymnastics
Authors: Land A. , Powell S. 
Published: October 2008

The paper by P. M. Ellis and R. W Corn, “Using bivalent integer programming to select teams for intercollegiate women's gymnastics competition” [1984] has some fascinating aspects and can be used as an illustration for alternative formulations of integer programming problems. The authors observed that it was easy to obtain ILP solutions and that usually the LP solution was also integer. With the formulation presented in this paper it can be shown that (with four all-rounders and four events) there is always an optimum LP solution which satisfies the integer constraints.
What MS/OR Groups Do: Ethicon Incorporated—A Stitch in Time
Authors: Calderone Ronald 
Published: October 2008

Ethicon Incorporated, a member of the Johnson & Johnson family of companies, is the world's largest manufacturer of wound closure products. It produces over 3,000 regular products and 3,000 specialty products for surgeons ranging from catgut suture material attached to finely honed surgical needles to internal and external stapling devices. The Management Science Department (now called End-User Services) reports to the director of Management Information Services (MIS) who, in turn, reports to the vice-president of finance. The mission of the department is to provide management consulting support and training to all divisions of Ethicon.
The Ombudsman: Academic Research in MS/OR: Science or Trivial Pursuit?
Authors: Halse Ron , Lilien Gary L. 
Published: October 2008

At the bottom of the masthead of this journal, in tiny print, a statement reveals that “Interfaces seeks to improve communication between managers and professionals in MS/OR …” The editor of this journal is at the junction of the academic and practitioner communities, where representatives of both communities frequently express concern about what academics work on and how that work is evaluated. The types of concerns young academics have expressed follow: —To get tenure at my school I need eight hits [publications] in six years … and I can only get them by working on small problems. —The really important problems in my field are too long-term and too risky for someone in my position [without tenure] to work on. —If I work on a big problem, I will have to be part of a research team and may not get credit [recognition? points toward tenure?] for my work. Our objective here is to explore the question: Do the rewards and incentive systems at our colleges and universities encourage academics in MS/OR to do research on important problems?
What MS/OR Groups Do: Analytical Tools for Economic Regulation of Energy Utilities
Authors: Kelly Kevin A. 
Published: October 2008

State public utility commissions (PUCs) regulate the nation's electric and gas utilities. These economic regulators set the prices and monitor the service quality for this important sector of the economy, and they require a different set of tools from those used by regulators of securities and of environmental, health, and safety effects. The main tools of utility commission regulation during its first century of existence were financial disclosure, accounting, and engineering depreciation studies. However, beginning around 1974 as energy prices soared, PUCs began to require more complex analytical tools for examining electric and gas utilities' performance, particularly tools for examining cost control. I will discuss here four analytical tools developed at the National Regulatory Research Institute (NRRI) to assist PUCs with these four kinds of analyses. Each tool was developed by NRRI researchers, under my general direction, in response to an expressed commission need, and each represents a different analytical approach to utility regulation.
A Letter to the Readers of Interfaces
Authors: Murphy Frederic H. 
Published: October 2008

Since I accepted the post as editor of Interfaces, I have been asking people what they think is good about Interfaces and what new directions it should take. My starting point is that the journal should reflect the needs and goals of our societies but should not overlap with other journals or activities. Let me couch my perceptions in a short history of MS/OR. Initially, the first discoveries in linear programming and stochastic processes defined MS/OR. We grew separately from industrial engineering: the industrial engineers focused on plant floor issues and work methods, whereas we strove for a wider range of applications with our new tools. Our ideas diffused into such activities as operations analysis and planning, corporate planning, marketing, and finance; into various sectors including business, health care, the military, and civilian government; and such subjects as computer science, engineering, sociology, and economics. The diffusion is so complete that many practitioners of MS/OR do not identify with the field at all.
Model World: A Model Is a Model Is a Model Is a Model
Authors: Gass Saul I. 
Published: October 2008

This occasional column will address issues — both real and imaginary — that impinge on what I think is the main activity of management science/operations research: building models that attempt to describe the world as it was, as it is, and as it will be. I will write on those modeling matters that I believe are important to the advancement of our profession, that are important to me (and I trust to the readers of Interfaces), and that are important to the general public who support us in our research and applications. I hope that we can better understand how what we do can influence the course of human events. And that the general public can better appreciate our successes and failures and aid us in advancing our science of decision making. Modeling is both fun and a serious business. In this first column, I would like to share with you some of the thoughts and quotes on models that have influenced me.
Book Reviews
Authors: Lev Benjamin 
Published: October 2008

Ciampa, Dan 1988, Manufacturing's New Mandate: The Tools for Leadership, John Wiley & Sons, New York, 233 pp., $22.95—reviewed by F C. “Ted” Weston, Jr. Pierce, N., editor 1987, Management Information Systems: The Technology Challenge, Nichols Publishing Co., New York, 333 pp., $39.50—reviewed by Marius A. Janson Kruze, R. and Meyer, K. D. 1987, Statistics with Vague Data, D. Reidel Publishing, Dordrecht, Holland, vii + 279 pp., $59.00—reviewed by Alan Julian Izenman Mahajan, Vijay and Wind, Yoram, editors 1986, Innovation Diffusion Models of New Product Acceptance, Ballinger Publishing, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 336 pp., $34.95—reviewed by Michael J. C. Martin Oliff, Michael D., editor 1988, Expert Systems and Intelligent Manufacturing, North-Holland, New York, 479 pp., $80.00—reviewed by Fatemeh Zahedi Taylor, Stephen 1986, Modelling Financial Time Series, John Wiley and Sons, New York, 268 + xvi pp., $47.95—reviewed by Kamran M. Dadkhah Gribik, Paul R. and Kortanek, Kenneth O. 1985, Extremal Methods of Operations Research, Marcel Dekker, Inc., New York, 328 pp. $37.50—reviewed by Soheila Jorjani Jünger, Michael 1985, Polyhedral Combinatorics and the Acyclic Subdigraph Problem, Heldermann Verlag Berlin, Berlin, Federal Republic of Germany, 128 pp., $36.00—reviewed by S. Thomas McCormick Adair, James 1988, Computer Organization and Architecture with Business Applications, Scott, Foresman and Company, Glenview, Illinois, 381 pp., $23.96—reviewed by Leonard J. Garrett Cohen, S. S. 1985, Operational Research, Edward Arnold, 3 East Read Street, Baltimore, Maryland 21202, 245 pp., $16.95—reviewed by Robert L. Nydick, Jr. Wright, George and Ayton, Peter, editors, 1987, Judgmental Forecasting, John Wiley and Sons, New York, 293 pp., $59.95—reviewed by Essam Mahmoud
The Case Analysis Section: National Cranberry Cooperative
Authors: Porteus Evan L. 
Published: October 2008

We are trying out a new feature for Interfaces, which we call the Case Analysis Section. If all goes well, two or three times a year we will publish a case that describes a management situation and invite you to analyze the case, make recommendations, and justify them. We will then publish the best parts of your best submissions, giving credit to the contributors. Submissions need not be complete analyses. We initiate the section in this issue with a well-known Harvard Business School case, the National Cranberry Cooperative.
Management Science Roundup
Authors: Bucatinsky Julio 
Published: October 2008

In this issue: —“Specials: (1) A capital spending model—Parker, (2) Development of social indicators in Washington, D.C.—JB, (3) Assistant Secretary of the Air Force talks about the communications gap between management scientists and managers—Schedler, (4) Optimum sampling in a textile company—Terry, (5) Research on the use of computers in economics and management science”; —“Bulletin Board: (1) TIMS meetings, (2) Other meetings/symposia, (3) Personal notes, (4) Notices”; —“Deadlines for future issues of INTERFACES”.
World-Wide On-Line Central Banking in the Late 70's … Can a Babylonian Confusion of Tongues Be Forestalled?
Authors: Thore Sten 
Published: October 2008

The difficult problem of interface is typically not one of inward interface but one of outward interface. The data processing system for a given industrial corporation may be beautifully designed, but there may arise large problems of extending it to incorporate the activities of a newly acquired subsidiary already having a data solution of its own. A national on-line real-time hotel booking system may work well, but it just may not easily merge with a similar system in another country to form an international network. The present note describes the grave interface problems that seem to loom ahead in the field of on-line real-time central banking. The suggestion is put forward that the International Monetary Fund has a unique responsibility in preparing for interface between international payment networks of tomorrow.
A Challenge to the Profession
Authors: Echols Michael E. 
Published: October 2008

The value of management science is derived from the ability of its professionals to develop scientific knowledge that may be useful to management. This development does not occur in a vacuum. The continued health of the profession requires a viable information system involving the members of both the academic and business communities. The publications of this institute are important elements in this communication process. In an attempt to establish a dialogue involving the membership of this institute, I am presenting several observations on the factors that define the contents of our journals. In addition, I am including a specific proposal for modifying those factors.
A Manager's Survey of Inventory and Production Control Systems
Authors: Wagner Harvey M. 
Published: October 2008

The commonly felt profit squeeze during the past few years has created a renaissance of corporate interest in tighter inventory control and production scheduling. Without getting into the technical design questions relating to modern replenishment systems, this article reviews for managers the important components of an inventory control project aimed at improving cost and service performance. The discussion specifies for such a project both the steps to be taken as well as the pitfalls to be avoided, and reflects a 1970's state-of-the-art. In particular, the survey examines four kinds of applications, ranging from systems that operate on a day-to-day or week-to-week basis to systems that provide information on a much less frequent basis to support major strategic investment decisions. In all four applications, the systems require holding inventory; the article will not treat situations in which ordering or manufacturing occurs in response to specific customer orders.
Management Science Roundup
Authors: Bucatinsky Julio 
Published: October 2008

In this issue: —“Time-shared models in a bank”; —“A model for portfolio selection”; —“Implementation of a forecasting system”; —“Systems design in the public sector”; —“Solving a waste collection problem”; —“Information system for public health planning”; —“Bulletin Board: (1) TIMS meetings, (2) Other meetings/symposia, (3) Personal notes, and (4) Notices”; —“Deadline for future issues of INTERFACES”.
Book Reviews
Authors: Lev Benjamin 
Published: October 2008

Denker, John S., ed. 1986, Neural Networks for Computing, AIP Conference Proceedings, Volume 151, American Institute of Physics, New York, 445 pp., $60.50—reviewed by Daniel S. Levine De Keyser, Veronique; Qvale, Thoralf; Wilpert, Bernhard; and Ruiz Quintanilla, S. Antonio, eds. 1988, The Meaning of Work and Technological Options, John Wiley and Sons, New York, 228 pp., $69.95—reviewed by Nanette Fondas Hage, Jerald, ed. 1988, Futures of Organizations: Innovating to Adapt Strategy and Human Resources to Rapid Technological Change, Lexington Books, Lexington, Massachusetts, 302 pp., $45.00—reviewed by T. K. Das Hayes, Robert H.; Wheelwright, Steven C.; and Clark, Kim B. 1988, Dynamic Manufacturing, The Free Press, New York, 429 pp., $24.95—reviewed by Howard W. Oden Rand, Graham K. ed. 1988, Operational Research '87, North Holland, Amsterdam, The Netherlands, 972 pp., $184.25—reviewed by Paul Gray
Book Reviews
Authors: Lev Benjamin 
Published: October 2008

Young, Lawrence F. 1989, Decision Support and Idea Processing Systems, William C. Brown Publishers, Dubuque, Iowa, 407 pp., $43.50—reviewed by Jeanne W. Ross Teodorović, Dušan 1988, Airline Operations Research, Gordon and Breach, New York, xi + 466 pp., $95.00—reviewed by Helmut Richter Mole, R. H. 1989, BASIC Graph and Network Algorithms, Butterworths, Borough Green, Sevenoaks, Kent TN15 8PH, England, 169 pp., paperback $19.95—reviewed by Edward Minieka Shogan, Andrew W. 1988, Management Science, Prentice Hall, Inc., New York, 823 pp., $45.00—reviewed by Narendra K. Rustagi Carrie, Allan, 1988, Simulation of Manufacturing Systems, John Wiley and Sons, New York, 418 pp., $69.95—reviewed by Enio E. Velazco