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The management of uncertainty has received much attention recently in the fields of database and artificial intelligence. Several methods of evidential reasoning have been proposed for real‐world problems with which uncertainty is associated. Considers one of these problems, that of classification, which is encountered in many domains including medicine. Focuses on a classification technique for knowledge discovery (KD). Reasoning about classifications is a primary interest in KD. Deals with obtaining evidence to confirm or refute classes. Searches for any data dependencies which exist between a classifier attribute and any of the property attributes. To illustrate the method compares a neural network classification with one based on Tanimoto’s method. It is important to note that the aim is to demonstrate this approach rather than to compare these two methods of classification. After extracting the data dependency information, employs a non‐numeric evidential reasoning method to see how well this evidence supports each of the two respective classifications.

The management of uncertainty has received much attention recently in the fields of database and artificial intelligence. Several methods of evidential reasoning have been proposed for real‐world problems with which uncertainty is associated. One of these problems is that of classification and it is encountered in many domains including medicine, which is considered here. Focuses on a classification technique for knowledge discovery (KD). Reasoning about classifications is a primary interest in KD. Obtains evidence to confirm or refute classes by searching for any data dependencies which exist between a classifier attribute and any of the property attributes. To illustrate the method, compares a neural network classification with one based on Tanimoto’s method. The aim was to demonstrate the approach rather than to compare the two methods of classification. After extracting the data dependency information, employs a non‐numeric evidential reasoning method to see how well this evidence supports each of the two respective classifications.

The clustering of objects in a layered object storage system is by common consent an exceedingly difficult problem. Studies the performance of three heuristic placement algorithms. A series of eight reasonably realistic case studies were used as a benchmark battery, and several hundred experiments were carried out to evaluate results of using the algorithms. Presents the results and the insights gained from the study.

Develops a method for estimating the monthly milk price schedule needed to counter the effects of seasonality, which is an enduring feature of milk production in the UK. The issue of seasonality has been mostly ignored in studies estimating milk supply functions. In this paper milk supply functions which explicitly take account of seasonality are estimated for Northern Ireland and Scotland. Pre‐testing of monthly milk price and milk supply time‐series, using an extended HEGY test and an ADF test, indicated the presence of deterministic seasonality. Empirical milk supply models incorporating seasonal dummy variables to account for deterministic seasonality were estimated in the two regions of study. The results of these models were used to calculate the monthly producer milk price schedule required to encourage dairy farmers to produce an even monthly milk supply pattern. These calculations indicated that, in the long run, a peak‐to‐trough seasonal price differential of around 8 pence per litre would be required to produce an even pattern of milk supply in Scotland, and 11 pence per litre would be required in Northern Ireland.

Women in medicine face barriers that hinder progress toward top leadership roles, and the industry remains plagued by the grand challenge of gender inequality. The purpose of this study was to explore how subtle and overt gender biases affect women physicians, physician leaders, researchers, and faculty working in academic health sciences environments and to further examine the association of these biases with workplace satisfaction. The study used a convergent mixed methods approach. Sampling from a list of medical schools in the United States, in conjunction with a list of each state's medical society, the authors analyzed the quantitative survey responses of 293 women in medicine. The authors conducted ordinary least squares multiple regression to assess the relationship of gender barriers on workplace satisfaction. Additionally, 132 of the 293 participants provided written open-ended responses that were explored using a qualitative content analysis methodology. The survey results showed that male culture, lack of sponsorship, lack of mentoring, and queen bee syndrome were associated with lower workplace satisfaction. The qualitative results provided illustrations of how participants experienced these biases. These results emphasize the obstacles that women face and highlight the detrimental nature of gender bias in medicine. The authors conclude by presenting concrete recommendations for managers endeavoring to improve the culture of gender equity and inclusivity.

MEN AND WOMEN about to retire are not always fortunate in having lectures on retirement available in their locality as, for example, Londoners have in the twelve‐week courses at Morley College (61 Westminster Bridge Road, SE1), where the Greater London Council, the Inner London Education Authority, Shell, and other big employers allow their staff afternoons off to hear specialists speak on pension problems, taxation, health, part‐time work, psychological and other problems of retirement.

Technical progress and its adoption are recognized as probably the most important source of improvement in the productivity and competitiveness of firms in any industry. While progress is an essential prerequisite for the transfer of technology, focuses on the process of transfer itself prompted by a lack of research in this area within the Northern Ireland food‐processing industry. The analysis investigated innovation and identified a diffusion pattern for the uptake of innovations. It also obtained a measure for the rate of technology transfer and identified the principal factors influencing the process. The results indicated factors that could be used to accelerate the diffusion of new technologies as being the education levels of managers; R&D expenditure; and the profitability of the innovation. There was also a suggestion that the poultry and dairy sectors were more progressive than the others in their approach to business.

This paper aims to investigate whether anthropomorphized (i.e. humanized) brands are judged less negatively for competence failures than for moral lapses and how these ethical judgments impact negative word-of-mouth (NWOM) intentions of less-lonely and more-lonely consumers.

Two scenario-based experiments were conducted, involving a total of 1,375 US mechanical turk (Amazon consumer panel) participants.

Findings show that brand humanization has an impact on ethical judgments only for less-lonely consumers. More specifically, for less-lonely consumers, a humanizing strategy backfires when the failure is moral but helps the brand when the failure is competence-related. On the other hand, more-lonely consumers judge the situation less negatively overall, and this effect is not impacted by the anthropomorphization strategy. Process tests indicate that these judgments indirectly affect consumers’ intention to spread NWOM following negative events.

Future research could examine the specific process for lonely consumers (i.e. the role of empathy) and manipulate the size of the negative events (i.e. consumer perceptions of moderate vs extreme failures).

Brand managers need to consider their specific situations, as anthropomorphization can have both positive and negative effects depending on the consumers and the failure type (moral vs competence).

Extant research indicates that a humanizing strategy backfires when the market has negative information about the brand. This research introduces types of negative information, as well as consumers’ loneliness as moderators and contributes to the literature in branding, business ethics and word-of-mouth.