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Despite the significant amount of time that children spend in the home, relatively little attention has been paid to the direct impact of housing conditions on children's development. A literature review of over 100 research studies was undertaken to examine evidence of a ‘housing effect’ on children's health, learning, safety and behaviour. The results found strong evidence of a relationship between poor housing conditions and children's health and some evidence that growing up in sub‐standard housing affects children's performance at school. While children's safety is clearly linked to the quality of their home environment, further research is necessary to understand the apparent link between poor housing conditions and children's behavioural problems. The review suggests that growing up in poor housing has a profound and long‐term effect on children's life chances and that public policy should play closer attention to this relationship. Nevertheless, the volume of high‐quality research in this area is surprisingly limited and there is a need for more comprehensive studies.

There are three possible outcomes following the undertaking of BPR projects. First, a BPR programme may fail in the short or long term either because it is improperly implemented or because there is no effective follow‐up. Second, a BPR programme may be deemed satisfactory in outcome yet still does not appear to significantly improve bottom‐line performance. Finally, there is the BPR programme which is highly successful and significantly improves the bottom‐line performance. It is identifying the last category which is the subject of this paper. In our view, to maximise the probability of making a major impact on the supply chain bottom line, BPR programmes should be planned to have adequate SCOPE. This is a three‐dimensional model of the change process with breadth, depth and width axes. Our approach to evaluating BPR impact is illustrated by application to the product delivery process of an electronics products supply chain. The prediction of improved performance is demonstrated via a dynamic simulation model of a real‐world supply chain as a function of the particular implementation phase of the BPR programme. The eventual improvement in performance obtained after a number of years progress is very significant. Indeed, in material flow terms, it is now a structurally much improved, robust and internationally competitive supply chain.

Outlines cost benefits for information system implementation using electronic data interchange as the enabling tool. Highlights rarely cited on‐cost benefits through the examination of supply chain dynamics, and their relative reductions created through increased stability. Examines two business re‐design strategies, namely lead time reduction via information systems implementation and information integration in the form of actual customer demand fed forward to all supply chain members. Highlights global integrated logistics information systems and describes their role in overall supply chain system optimization.

The purpose of this chapter is to suggest ways for early childhood teachers to teach science content knowledge, vocabulary, respect, and an appreciation for nature while children engage in meaningful outdoor nature activities. Science concepts such as nature, life cycle, observation, and experimentation can be woven into outdoor activities as children pretend to be nature scientists. Intentional planning provides teachers with the opportunity to integrate science content knowledge and vocabulary learning during the nature study. The careful selection of content vocabulary related to the scientific process and science content knowledge helps children learn new words in meaningful and developmentally appropriate ways. This chapter provides several examples of outdoor nature activities with science content knowledge and vocabulary embedded into each activity.

There are three possible outcomes following the undertaking of BPR projects. First, a BPR programme may fail either in the short or in the long term because it is improperly implemented or because there is no effective follow‐up. Second, a BPR programme may be deemed satisfactory but does not appear to significantly improve bottom‐line performance. Finally there is the BPR programme which is highly successful and significantly improves bottom line performance. This paper is concerned with the identification of opportunities in the last category and involves estimating the scope of the proposed BPR programme. The scope paradigm is based on the classification of BPR characteristics into three dimensions. These are width (the flow dimension), breadth (the activities dimension), and depth (the infrastructure dimension). We conclude that the achievement of significant business gains depends on designing programmes to exceed threshold values along all three dimensions. This defines a target scope zone for BPR working to enable real improvements to bottom‐line performance.

Automation is no longer an option; it is no longer “if” but “when” and “how”. This book has been written for senior librarians who recognise this, for their line managers to whom the detailed work has been delegated, and for the junior staff, library and clerical, who need to know not only how to operate a system, but why it works as it does.

The purpose of this study is to propose a new dynamic model of a production-inventory control system. The objective of the new model is to maximise the flexibility of the system so that it can be used by decision makers to design inventory systems that adopt various strategies that provide a balance between reducing the bullwhip effect and improving the responsiveness of inventory performance.

The proposed production-inventory control system is modelled and analysed via control theory and simulations. The production-inventory feedback control system is modelled through continuous time differential equations. The simulation experiments design is conducted by using the state-space model of the system. The Automatic Pipeline Inventory and Order-Based Production Control System (APIOBPCS) model is used as a benchmark production-inventory control system.

The results showed that the Two Automatic Pipelines, Inventory and Order-Based Production Control System (2APIOBPCS) model outperforms APIOBPCS in terms of reducing the bullwhip effect. However, the 2APIOBPCS model has a negative impact on Customer Service Level. Therefore, with careful parameter setting, it is possible to design control decisions to be suitably responsive while generating smooth order patterns and obtain the best trade-off of the two objectives.

This research is limited to the dynamics of single-echelon production-inventory control systems with zero desired inventory level.

This present model is an extension and improvement to Towill’s (1982) and John et al.’s (1994) work, since it presents a new dynamic model of a production-inventory control system which utilises an additional flow of information to improve the efficiency of order rate decisions.

This chapter analyses efforts of the union and the management of a large urban transit company to address the high prevalence of hypertension among transit operators. Ethnographic evidence recounts the efforts to change the structure of work in order to decrease the problem. The chapter's key finding is that the features of the work environment that produce hypertension in transit operators in the first place also make it difficult for them to work together with their union leadership to push for lasting work changes necessary to improve their health over the long run.

The purpose of this paper is to identify the demographic and psychographic characteristics of older green tea consumers in the USA. By understanding this segment’s background, perceptions, and behaviors, health and marketing professionals can tailor messages to reach clients and consumers.

An online survey was completed in January 2014 with 1,335 older adult consumers (=55 years old). Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and binomial logistic regression.

More than half (n=682, 51.2 percent) of respondents drank green tea. Most green tea consumers in this sample are college-educated and employed female home owners. The odds for green tea consumption are greater if a respondent is in good health, was informed about diet and health, or made a health-related dietary change in the past year. There are greater odds of consumption if the respondent is familiar with the relationship between drinking green tea and the reduced risk of cancer however, the importance of health statements on product labels are not predictive of consumption.

This study was conducted in the USA and with older adults. Future research should explore characteristics of younger consumers, i.e. 18-54 years old.

Health educators, regulators, and marketing professionals may use this profile to tailor messages that speak to consumers and client’s values and motivations.

To the authors’ knowledge, this is the first profile of older adult green tea consumers in the USA.

Customers who engage in impulsive online shopping make immediate, unplanned and ill-thought-out purchases online. The purpose of this paper is to present a model to illustrate how website quality (moderated by hedonic value) influences impulsive shopping behaviors in the context of online tourism.

The model and hypotheses presented here were tested by structural equation modeling. Empirical data were collected by conducting a questionnaire survey, in total, 3,000 invitation messages were mailed to the members of the two travel communities (1,500 invitation messages for each one), of which, 402 were returned completed (a return rate of 13.4 percent).

Visually appealing websites are more likely to attract customer attention and illicit pleasurable emotional responses. In addition, effective tourism websites also maintain good service quality and ensure accuracy of information. Finally, good functional benefits can help customers reduce the time and effort spent searching for a specific service and can also serve as a stimulus triggering impulse buying.

This study used a reliable multidimensional measure of factors that influence the relational benefit of initiators and buyers to help elucidate which factors encourage impulsive online shopping. From a theoretical perspective, the authors determined that website quality is positively associated with functional benefits, and thereby influences impulsive shopping behaviors; in addition, the functional benefits conferred by websites have a strong and direct influence on impulsive shopping behavior. However, this effect is moderated by hedonic value.

Online tourism retailers should continually seek to enhance this function because it is the primary motivation behind customer use of online shopping websites. Effective tourism websites also maintain good service quality and ensure accuracy of information. Finally, navigation systems should be designed to meet the needs of new users, for example by offering help pages that address a variety of topics. Therefore, tourism websites should feature an adequate number of images, a colorful design, and well-described services and products.

In recent years, the popularity of online shopping websites has continued to rise. In seeking to elucidate impulsive online shopping behaviors, this study focused on online-to-offline applications, the uses-and-gratifications perspective and service-dominant logic. The authors also discussed the important influence of website quality on impulse buying and how this is moderated by hedonic value. The research model presented in this study provides a reliable instrument to operationalize key constructs in the analysis of impulsive shopping behavior and has important implications for the online tourism industry.