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In recent decades there has been much interest and activity in the application of mathematical ideas for controlling inventory. However most of this has been related to the control of stock products whose demand is smooth and continuous. When demand is lumpy these methods are inefficient in their attempts to minimise thé operating cost. A simple regression model is developed for computing optimal (s, S) policies for items with lumpy demand patterns. Continuous review of inventory level is assumed and the lead time demand is approximated by the stuttering Poisson distribution. A grid of 864 known optimal policies has been used to provide the data for the calibration of the regression models. Numerical models are used to illustrate this approach. Extensive computational results show that this model provides excellent performance in estimating the optimal values of the control parameters s and S for wide ranges of demand and cost parameters.

The aim of this article is to explore how the employees of a Danish family-owned company identify with the heritage identity of their company. More specifically, the purpose is to study how the employees interpret certain historical events and values in their efforts to make sense of which heritage identity traits have remained meaningful for them over the passage of time and what these historical events and traits mean to their identification with the company.

The investigation is based on 19 in-depth interviews with employees. A critical discourse analysis approach is adopted to uncover the discursive dynamics appearing across the employees' interpretations of historical events and values.

The study indicates that heritage identity represent a complex and dynamic resource for employees' organizational identification. Therefore, this article argues that it could be a challenge for management to maintain a stable and enduring heritage identity, because the employees' interpretations and consequently their organizational identification is subject to continual revision and under influence by a dynamic and constantly changing social context.

The findings of this study is limited to the specific context of one company. Further research could investigate the same topics when interviewing employees across the national borders of a global family company in times of change.

Management need to identify whether different generations of employees develop a strong or weak identification with certain heritage identity traits and whether there are competing or compatible targets of heritage identification among these generations.

This study illuminates the potential challenges related to the maintenance and preservation of heritage identity in a company with roots to a strong founding family, which operates in a constantly changing environment.

The purpose of this paper is to review the latest management developments across the globe and pinpoint practical implications from cutting-edge research and case studies.

This briefing is prepared by an independent writer who adds his/her own impartial comments and places the articles in context.

The UK TV sitcom “Open All Hours” is a truly terrible example of convenience retailing. The situation is that of a corner shop in Northern England run by a cantankerous middle aged man with a pronounced stutter, who variously abuses, gossips about or tries to flatter his customers. Inventory is massive, point of sale technology primitive, and as the title suggests, opening hours are long. Hilarity ensues.

This study provides strategic insights and practical thinking that have influenced some of the world’s leading organizations.

The briefing saves busy executives and researchers hours of reading time by selecting only the very best, most pertinent information and presenting it in a condensed and an easy-to-digest format.

Following engine start on a Bell Jetranger helicopter, the pilot commented on a high frequency vibration which was apparent through the pedals. Once the aircraft had lifted into the hover, the vibration could no longer be detected and the helicopter departed Newmarket to return to Blackbushe. During the flight a short duration noise was made by the helicopter which was variously described by witnesses on the ground, as a ‘sharp crack’, ‘similar to a car gearbox breaking up’ and ‘stuttering like a car misfire’. After this, the helicopter began a gentle right turn to the north, towards the town of Crowthorne. The ground speed appeared to reduce to between 80 and 85 kt in this turn.

The purpose of this paper is to focus on the role of interviewee anxiety as a predictor of perceived hireability (Study 1, n=82) and job suitability (Study 2, n=74).

Using an experimental design, participants were randomly allocated to one of two conditions (an audio recording of either a confident or anxious job candidate with identical scripts) and asked to take the role of an interviewer.

The anxious interviewee (played by an actor) was consistently rated as less hireable (in a combined sample based on Studies and 2), less suitable to the job and received less favorable hiring recommendations (as assessed in Study 2) than the confident interviewee (played by the same actor).

The study was conducted with students who may have less interview experience than experienced interviewers.

The results suggest that anxiety has a negative biasing effect on perceived hireability and job suitability ratings. In other words, the behavioral manipulation of anxiety affects hireability ratings, independent of any subjective assessment of anxiety.

The findings provide evidence of an anxiety bias in telephone interview settings. The results highlight the importance of considering anxiety cues when training employment interviewers.

Briefly reviews the standard Poisson distribution and then examines a set of derivative, modified Poisson distributions for testing hypotheses derived from positive deviation‐amplifying feedback models, which do not lend themselves to ordinary statistically based hypothesis testing. The “reinforcement” or “contagious” Poisson offers promise for a subset of such models, in particular those models with data in the form of rates (rather than magnitudes). The practical difficulty lies in distinguishing reinforcement effects from initial heterogeneity, since both can form negative binomial distributions, with look‐alike data. Illustrates these difficulties, and also opportunities, for various feedback models employing the self‐fulfilling prophecy, and especially for confidence loops, which incorporate particular self‐fulfilling prophecies as part of a larger dynamic process. Describes an actual methodology for testing hypotheses regarding confidence loops with the aid of a “reinforcement” Poisson distribution, as well as its place within sociocybernetics.

The purpose of this paper is to identify the severity of certain communication disorders (CD) in a sample of Syrian refugee children. There are a limited number of studies about CD among refugee children.

Over a period of 22 months, 161 cases of CD – not caused by motor or structural disorders – were seen at a Mental Health Clinic in Beqaa, Lebanon. The authors calculated descriptive statistics (frequencies and percentages) and bivariate statistics to identify relationships between CD, demographics and school enrollment among cases.

Ages ranged between 3 and 16 years with a mean of 6.91. Male to female ratio was 1.6:1. The most prevalent category of CD was speech, followed by expressive language, then receptive language. Parents reported behavioral or emotional problems in 38 percent of the cases; emotional problems, mainly anxiety, were much more common than behavioral problems. Enrollment in school was associated with a lower number of impairments and less severe speech and language impairments.

The results highlight the importance of early detection and intervention among Syrian refugee children. Schools can alleviate some psychological issues that compound CD by enhancing resilient behaviors and providing social support. They can also implement measures for detection and intervention.

This study seeks to evaluate the accuracy of non‐verbal behaviors in differentiating between criminals and innocent citizens in real‐life police‐citizen encounters, and evaluate the impact of race as a confounding influence on the display of these non‐verbal behaviors.

This study involved the frame‐by‐frame analysis of 240 videotaped interactions between citizens and police officers to determine the frequency with which citizens of different races and differing roles (offender versus non‐offender) display specific non‐verbal behaviors officers are trained to believe are indicators of suspicion.

The findings suggest that the non‐verbal cues of frequent speech disruptions, frequent or inappropriate smiles, the avoidance of eye contact, and increased hand gestures are poor indicators of criminal involvement and are strongly influenced by the race/ethnicity of the individual.

The videotaped police‐citizen interactions on which this study was based were from a “reality television” show, thus preventing a random sample.

This study would be useful to police officers who rely on the use of non‐verbal cues, training personnel who instruct in the areas of non‐verbal communication, and researchers who examine the potential causes of racial bias in the actions of police officers.

While earlier studies have investigated this issue with laboratory experiments under artificial conditions, this study provides a test of the influence of race on non‐verbal behavior during real life official police‐citizen interactions in the field.

In 2075, to mark the upcoming 200th anniversary of the start of organized library service in the world, the Universal Libinfosci Association, successor to the old American Library Association, which was also founded in 1876, appointed a special committee to schedule a series of events marking that important anniversary. The following is a brief account of the outcome of one of those events. It is a remarkable tale that suggests how we have come full circle in the provision of library services and how, indeed, the last shall be first!

The importance of service encounters for the purpose of creating and maintaining good customer relationships is widely recognised. This study focuses on the quality of face‐to‐face communication during service encounters between service providers and their customers at a help desk of a hotel conference department. Communication is believed to be influenced by the social activities that are pursued in a particular encounter. A stepwise method based on linguistic theory is developed to record, analyse and interpret transcriptions of verbal and non‐verbal behaviour by means of audio and video recordings. Utterances have been coded with regard to their function and content and are organised in a so called molecular coding scheme. This scheme models the dynamic interplay between communicators and makes it possible to analyse contextual influences on communication. It is believed that the approach advocated here could be of use for managers of service operations where communication is paramount.