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THE first surprise when travelling by air from Fiji to Western Samoa is that one leaves Fiji on Saturday and arrives in Western Samoa on Friday. This is because of crossing the International Date Line en route and a story is told in Fiji of a man who owned a shop through which the date line ran. Sunday trading is frowned on in Fiji but our friend got round this by opening only half of his shop on Sunday—the half on the Saturday or Monday side of the date line. It is therefore not surprising that the Fiji Times describes itself as “the first newspaper in the world every day”.

This paper describes the results of an effort to predict future freight volume in the truckload (TL) trucking industry. The approach involves the use of stepwise multiple linear regression models that relate freight volume to a variety of economic indicators. The models are built using a large set of actual freight data provided by J.B. Hunt Transport (JBHT), one of the world’s largest TL carriers. The data was first analyzed using the overall set of national data, and then for specific industrial and regional segments. The overall results of these analyses should prove useful to a wide variety of transportation and logistics operations.

Suggests that there is justification for the use of a new methodology for process diagnosis which is simple to understand and realistic to implement. The control of quality of a process typically requires that multiple process variables be monitored simultaneously. Due to the multi‐dimensionality of the data collected, process diagnosis is complex and the data often are not efficiently integrated to capitalize on the wealth of available information. A two‐phased diagnostic approach for process diagnosis and identification of suspect causes for this multi‐dimensional problem is introduced in Krishnamurthi et al. (1993). Provides an in‐depth analysis of phase two of the statistical process control (SPC) diagnostic approach. Specifically, simulation is used to generate different cause and effect scenarios to determine the effectiveness of the SPC approach in correctly diagnosing a process disorder. The analysis utilizes analysis of variance to estimate the effect of various process variables, process steps, and associated out‐of‐control conditions on the performance of the SPC approach and its ability to diagnose correctly an out‐of‐control condition. As a result of these findings, the critical means are plotted and the findings are presented. Additionally, a comparison between the SPC approach and parsimonious covering theory (PCT) is made. Concludes that for the process scenarios considered, which are of practical size, the more simple approach of the SPC diagnostic approach is recommended.

In many industries, the success or failure of a new product is largely determined in the design phase of the project. Consequently, manufacturers should strive to develop integrated system design tools to help ensure that new products are readily producible according to manufacturing or assembly capability. Introduces a systems integration strategy called “design to fit an existing environment” (DFEE). The purpose of this DFX sub‐strategy is to integrate capacity and product mix issues into design strategies so that it becomes possible to design new products which are more globally optimal from a systems standpoint. The result of using DFEE is that better product time‐to‐market targets can be established, and products can be designed to take advantage of existing slack manufacturing capacity, thus balancing assembly flow and reducing capital expenditures.

The following classified, annotated list of titles is intended to provide reference librarians with a current checklist of new reference books, and is designed to supplement the RSR review column, “Recent Reference Books,” by Frances Neel Cheney. “Reference Books in Print” includes all additional books received prior to the inclusion deadline established for this issue. Appearance in this column does not preclude a later review in RSR. Publishers are urged to send a copy of all new reference books directly to RSR as soon as published, for immediate listing in “Reference Books in Print.” Reference books with imprints older than two years will not be included (with the exception of current reprints or older books newly acquired for distribution by another publisher). The column shall also occasionally include library science or other library related publications of other than a reference character.

A collection of essays by a social economist seeking to balance economics as a science of means with the values deemed necessary to man′s finding the good life and society enduring as a civilized instrumentality. Looks for authority to great men of the past and to today′s moral philosopher: man is an ethical animal. The 13 essays are: 1. Evolutionary Economics: The End of It All? which challenges the view that Darwinism destroyed belief in a universe of purpose and design; 2. Schmoller′s Political Economy: Its Psychic, Moral and Legal Foundations, which centres on the belief that time‐honoured ethical values prevail in an economy formed by ties of common sentiment, ideas, customs and laws; 3. Adam Smith by Gustav von Schmoller – Schmoller rejects Smith′s natural law and sees him as simply spreading the message of Calvinism; 4. Pierre‐Joseph Proudhon, Socialist – Karl Marx, Communist: A Comparison; 5. Marxism and the Instauration of Man, which raises the question for Marx: is the flowering of the new man in Communist society the ultimate end to the dialectical movement of history?; 6. Ethical Progress and Economic Growth in Western Civilization; 7. Ethical Principles in American Society: An Appraisal; 8. The Ugent Need for a Consensus on Moral Values, which focuses on the real dangers inherent in there being no consensus on moral values; 9. Human Resources and the Good Society – man is not to be treated as an economic resource; man′s moral and material wellbeing is the goal; 10. The Social Economist on the Modern Dilemma: Ethical Dwarfs and Nuclear Giants, which argues that it is imperative to distinguish good from evil and to act accordingly: existentialism, situation ethics and evolutionary ethics savour of nihilism; 11. Ethical Principles: The Economist′s Quandary, which is the difficulty of balancing the claims of disinterested science and of the urge to better the human condition; 12. The Role of Government in the Advancement of Cultural Values, which discusses censorship and the funding of art against the background of the US Helms Amendment; 13. Man at the Crossroads draws earlier themes together; the author makes the case for rejecting determinism and the “operant conditioning” of the Skinner school in favour of the moral progress of autonomous man through adherence to traditional ethical values.

Investigates the differences in protocols between arbitral tribunals and courts, with particular emphasis on US, Greek and English law. Gives examples of each country and its way of using the law in specific circumstances, and shows the variations therein. Sums up that arbitration is much the better way to gok as it avoids delays and expenses, plus the vexation/frustration of normal litigation. Concludes that the US and Greek constitutions and common law tradition in England appear to allow involved parties to choose their own judge, who can thus be an arbitrator. Discusses e‐commerce and speculates on this for the future.

Communications regarding this column should be addressed to Mrs. Cheney, Peabody Library School, Nashville, Term. 37203. Mrs. Cheney does not sell the books listed here. They are available through normal trade sources. Mrs. Cheney, being a member of the editorial board of Pierian Press, will not review Pierian Press reference books in this column. Descriptions of Pierian Press reference books will be included elsewhere in this publication.

Communications regarding this column should be addressed to Mrs. Cheney, Peabody Library School, Nashville, Tenn. 37203. Mrs. Cheney does not sell the books listed here. They are available through normal trade sources. Mrs. Cheney, being a member of the editorial board of Pierian Press, will not review Pierian Press reference books in this column. Descriptions of Pierian Press reference books will be included elsewhere in this publication.