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The purpose of this study was to determine if certain mean T scores on the MMPI would vary significantly for careerists in National Guard Units when compared to typical non-clinical scores. It was also an attempt to observe differences between certain MMPI scales to determine whether further study of these scales as gross predictors of candidates more likely to succeed in a military environment appears appropriate.Eleven scales of the MMPI were selected for this purpose and this study attempted to evaluate the scales which might be used. Among the scales studied were: L (Lie); 3 (Conversion Hysteria); 4 (Psychopathic Deviate); 5 (Masculinity-Femininity); Es (Ego Strength); Re (Social Responsibility); A (Conscious Anxiety); and Dy (Dependency). Three directional hypotheses were developed: (1) careerists, in general, will score lower on the 3, 4, 5 (males only), 8, A and Dy scales while they will score higher on the L, 5 (females only) 9, Es Re and Cn than will a typical non-clinical population. (2) Certain personality characteristics, measured by the MMPI, have a significant correlation to the proclivity of an individual to enter and continue in part- or full-time military service. (3) The identified scales can then be considered for further study to determine the feasibility of their use in a screening program to predict success or failure of enlistees as reported by their intention to remain in service upon completion of their initial enlistment obligation.Participants were volunteers from Indiana National Guard Units in both rural and urban areas. Each participant was provided a copy of the self-administered MMPI and requested to complete it in accordance with the written instructions. In addition, they were provided an informed consent form containing a written explanation of the purpose for their participation and delineating the scope of the study.To analyze the data an analysis of variance was used which demonstrated significant differences between male and female careerists and their "civilian" counterparts on seven of the 11 scales, supporting the first hypothesis. After completing correlation matrices for the eleven scales and an analysis of variance, using age as the covariate for the respondents, the data were reviewed. This revealed that, for the limited female population seven of the 11 scales supported the third hypothesis but only three scales were found significant for males suggesting the need for further study to clarify this disparity.

This study shows an economically significant relation between a firm’s environmental performance and its cost of debt. Firms that have poor environmental performance will face future environmental liabilities related to compliance and clean-up costs due to increasingly strict environmental laws and regulations. Under current U.S. law, environmental liabilities can impair the value of fixed assets, as environmental claims often take precedence over the claims of creditors. Thus, future environmental liabilities are of particular concern to creditors. Previous accounting research has shown that a firm’s market value of equity is significantly affected by its environmental performance. However, the same has yet to be shown for a firm’s cost of debt capital. This study focuses on a sample of U.S. pulp and paper firms. The results imply that the market applies an ‘environmental risk’ premium of thirty-eight basis points to the cost of debt capital for the average public firm in the U.S. pulp and paper industry, based on its environmental performance. Environmental performance is measured using the annual toxic release inventory of the United States Environmental Protection Agency. It is a measure of the amount of toxic chemicals released to land, air and water by a firm’s operating facilities. This paper adds to the literature, providing evidence that environmental performance is a value relevant measure with regards to creditors. Thus, recent calls in the United States for greater cooperation between the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Environmental Protection Agency should be addressed. These calls are for the reporting, on a firm-wide basis, of quantifiable data that is already required by the Environmental Protection Agency but is not typically available in detail in firms’ reports to investors.

The purpose of this master thesis is to point out possibilities for reducing the inventory of semi-finished products based on the example of a German SME (small and medium-sized enterprises) in the steel rope industry. Inventory reduction increases the flexibility of the company and decreases tied up capital. Therefore it is necessary to identify the factors which are influencing the inventory level. Theory provided market related, product related and pro-duction related factors. These factors have been analysed by collecting empirical data and comparing these results with theory. Product delivery strategy, decoupling point strategy and postponement strategy are the theo-retical frame work used to answer the main research question: How can the decrease of inventory of semi-finished products be exemplified without reducing the ability to deliver based on product delivery strategies? The main result of this thesis is that Drako is not able to move the decoupling point dramatically because this change would increase the set-up times. Therefore postponement strategies have to be applied to delay the point of product definition. This can be achieved on the one hand by ensuring that components are useable for other products. Nowadays this point of product definition occurs in the first production step when the chosen wire is fixed in the stranding machine. On the other hand it is easily possible to use free capacity so that the production process can be split up on more machines. The utilisation of the relevant machines for producing elevator steel wire rope is very low. Based on the value stream analysis, which was the major source for collection of the empirical data, waste in the production has been identified. Quality checks at the end of a process are not sufficient, because it is not possible to repair errors. Also the rewinding of the wire is wasted time for the company because the supplier is able to deliver the raw material also on bobbins, which avoids the rewinding process. All in all it can be said that the current production strategy of Drako allows many proposals for inventory reduction. / Das Ziel dieser Arbeit ist die Bestandsreduzierung von Zwischenprodukten dargestellt am Beispiel eines Klein- und Mittelunternehmens aus der Stahlseilbranche. Bestandsreduzierungen erhöhen die Flexibilität eines Unternehmens, indem nur das auf Lager liegt, was auch benötigt wird, und reduzieren somit das gebundene Kapital. Um eine Bestandsreduzierung durchführen zu können ist es nötig die Einflussfaktoren zu identifizieren. In der Literatur findet man drei Gruppen von Faktoren – marktbezogene, produktbezogene und prozessbezogene – auf, welche im Rahmen der Diplomarbeit identifiziert, analysiert und diskutiert werden. Dazu werden die empirischen Daten mit der Theorie verglichen. Methoden zur Erfüllung des Kundenbedarfs wie MTS, ATO, MTO und ETO, Theorien über den Entkopplungspunkt und Möglichkeiten zur Verschiebung des Variantenbildungspunktes bilden die theoretischen Grundkonzepte der Diplomarbeit um die folgende Hauptforschungsfrage zu beantworten: Wie kann der Bestand von Zwischenproduktion beispielhaft mit Produktionsmethoden reduziert werden ohne die Liefertreue zu verschlechtern? Das Resultat der Arbeit ist, dass man den Entkopplungspunkt nicht wesentlich verschieben kann, da sich sonst die Rüstzeiten dramatisch erhöhen würden. Deshalb ist es nur möglich mit ausgewählten Methoden den Variantenbildungspunkt zum Kunden hin zu verschieben. Dafür muss gewährleistet sein, dass die selben Zwischenprodukte auch für andere Fertigprodukte verwendet werden können. In dem Unternehmen ist der Variantenbildungspunkt ganz am Anfang der Wertschöpfungskette, d.h. im ersten Bearbeitungsschritt ist das fertige Produkt schon definiert. Ebenso wurde festgestellt, dass die Auslastung der Maschinen sehr niedrig ist. Deswegen ist es leicht möglich Arbeitsschritte aufzuteilen um so eine Verkürzung der Produktionsdurchlaufszeit zu ermöglichen. Mittels einer Wertstromanalyse, welche als Grundlage für die empirische Datenerhebung verwendet wurde, wurde festgestellt, dass sich im Produktionsablauf Verschwendungen ein-geschlichen haben. Zum einen gibt es am Ende der Produktion eine Qualitätskontrolle. Bei dieser „Leichenbeschau“ ist es nicht mehr möglich Fehler zu korrigieren, deshalb muss die Prozessstabilität erhöht werden um die geforderte Qualität sicherstellen zu können. Zum anderen wird der Draht von machen Lieferanten ohne Spulen geliefert. Das führt dazu, dass das Unternehmen einen Umspulvorgang einführen muss, welcher keine wertschöpfende Tätigkeit ist und somit vermieden werden sollte.

This study shows an economically significant relation between a firm’s environmental performance and its cost of debt. Firms that have poor environmental performance will face future environmental liabilities related to compliance and clean-up costs due to increasingly strict environmental laws and regulations. Under current U.S. law, environmental liabilities can impair the value of fixed assets, as environmental claims often take precedence over the claims of creditors. Thus, future environmental liabilities are of particular concern to creditors. Previous accounting research has shown that a firm’s market value of equity is significantly affected by its environmental performance. However, the same has yet to be shown for a firm’s cost of debt capital. This study focuses on a sample of U.S. pulp and paper firms. The results imply that the market applies an ‘environmental risk’ premium of thirty-eight basis points to the cost of debt capital for the average public firm in the U.S. pulp and paper industry, based on its environmental performance. Environmental performance is measured using the annual toxic release inventory of the United States Environmental Protection Agency. It is a measure of the amount of toxic chemicals released to land, air and water by a firm’s operating facilities. This paper adds to the literature, providing evidence that environmental performance is a value relevant measure with regards to creditors. Thus, recent calls in the United States for greater cooperation between the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Environmental Protection Agency should be addressed. These calls are for the reporting, on a firm-wide basis, of quantifiable data that is already required by the Environmental Protection Agency but is not typically available in detail in firms’ reports to investors.

Transportation is important in making supply chain decisions. With the careful consideration of transportation expenses, the performance of each supply chain member, as well as the entire supply chain, could be improved significantly. The purpose of this research is: 1) to explore and identify the various situations that relate to replenishment and transportation activities; and 2) to reveal the strength of the connection between purchase quantity and transportation discounts, and integrate the two discounts to enhance supply-chain coordination. The problem is analyzed and categorized into four representative cases, depending on transportation. To aid the supplier or the carrier to determine the discount that should be offered, in light of the buyer's reaction to that discount, decision models are proposed under three different circumstances. First, assuming a single product, we investigate the quantity discounts from the supplier's perspective, via a noncooperative game-theoretical approach and also a joint decision model. Taking into account the price elasticity of demand, this analysis aids a sole supplier in establishing an all-unit quantity discount policy in light of the buyer's best reaction. The Stackelberg equilibrium and the Pareto-optimal solution set are derived for the noncooperative and joint-decision cases, respectively. Our research indicates that channel efficiency can be improved significantly if the quantity discount decision is made jointly rather than noncooperatively. Moreover, we extend our model in several directions: (a) the product is transported by a private fleet; (b) the buyer may choose to offer her customers a different percentage discount than that she obtained from the supplier; and (c) the case of multiple (heterogeneous) buyers. Numerical examples are employed, here and throughout the thesis, to illustrate the practical applications of the models presented and the sensitivity to model parameters. Secondly, we consider a situation with a family of SKUs for which the supplier will offer a quantity discount, according to the aggregate purchases of the product group. Management of those items is based on the modified periodic policy. From the supplier's point of view, what are the optimal parameters (breakpoint and discount percentage)? For deterministic demand, we discuss the cases in which demand is both constant and price-sensitive. First as a noncooperative Stackelberg game, and then when the two parties make the discount and replenishment decisions jointly, we illustrate the impact of price-sensitivity and joint decision making on the supplier's discount policy. The third approach studies the case in which transportation of the goods by a common carrier (a public, for-hire trucking company) is integrated in the quantity discount decisions. In reality, it is quite difficult for the carrier to determine the proper transportation discount, especially in the case of LTL (less-than-truckload) trucking. This is not only because of the "phantom freight" phenomenon, caused by possible over-declaration of the weight by the shipper, but also due to the fact that the discount relates to both transportation and inventory issues. In this research, we study the problem of coordinating the transportation and quantity discount decisions from the perspectives of the parties who offer the discounts, rather than the ones that take them. By comparison of the noncooperative and cooperative models, we show that cooperation provides better overall results, not only to each party, but also to the entire supply chain. To divide the extra payoffs gained from that cooperation, we further conduct a coalition analysis, based upon the concept of "Shapley Value." A detailed algorithm and numerical examples are provided to illustrate the solution procedure. Finally, the thesis concludes with comprehensive remarks. We summarize the contributions of this thesis, show the overall results obtained here, and present the directions that our research may take in the future.

Risk assessment and case management are two important aspects of young offender corrections and reintegration. Evaluating the extent to which case management practices are guided by risk assessment is important because the impact of the risk assessment instrument cannot be adequately assessed if the instrument is not being applied as fully intended. Unfortunately, little research has been devoted to examining the use of risk/need instruments in offender case management. The purpose of the present study was to investigate the link between risk assessment and community case management of young offenders in Saskatchewan and whether adherence to the principles of risk, need, and responsivity vis-à-vis the Level of Service Inventory Saskatchewan Youth Edition (LSI-SK; Andrews, Bonta, & Wormith, 2001) is related to recidivism. <p>Risk assessment and case management data were collected for a total sample of 193 young offenders who were supervised by youth workers from the Saskatoon and Regina probation offices. The sample was followed up for an average of 644 days. The overall recidivism rate was 62.2% with no significant difference in recidivism according to office of supervision, sex, or ethnicity.<p>The LSI-SK total and seven of the subscale scores were significantly, positively correlated with recidivism. Results also indicate that the LSI-SK was being used to guide supervision intensity as well as interventions. Moreover, the present study found that adherence to the need principle was associated with reductions in recidivism. Appropriateness (defined as the presence of interventions for identified needs or absence of interventions for areas that were not identified as needs) correlated significantly with recidivism (r = - .214). Appropriateness was found to be a significant predictor of recidivism after controlling for ethnicity and length of follow up. For every appropriate intervention listed on the case plan, the likelihood of recidivism was reduced by 24%. In terms of inappropriate treatment, under treatment was significantly correlated with recidivism (r = .283) but over treatment was not. Under treatment was a significant predictor of recidivism after controlling for ethnicity and length of follow up. For every identified need that did not have a corresponding intervention, the risk of recidivism increased by 91%. Implications for case management and direction for future research are discussed.

The legitimacy of classifying female offenders in the correctional system has been disputed (especially the application of male-normed risk assessment tools), and yet, there is a need to accurately determine the risk of re-offending and the criminogenic needs of the offender along with general and specific issues (i.e., responsivity) that will encourage successful program delivery. The Level of Service Inventory Ontario Revision (LSI-OR; Andrews, Bonta & Wormith, 1995) is an assessment tool used throughout Ontarios probation services and provincial institutions. Although the first edition of the LSI was based primarily on a male sample, later revisions included norms for female offenders based on samples spanning three continents (Blanchette & Brown, 2006). Although its reliability and predictive validity has been demonstrated across many field settings and offender populations, few studies (e.g., Rettinger, 1998) have addressed the question of predictive validity on a sufficiently large sample of female offenders to convince the skeptics of the LSI-ORs applicability to women (Blanchette & Brown).<p> The current study examined internal consistency, the ability to discriminate recidivists from non-recidivists with t-tests, and the capacity to predict recidivism with correlation and receiver operating characteristic analysis. The sample consisted of 2831 female offenders who were either released from a provincial correctional facility, completed a conditional sentence in the community, or completed a sentence of probation in Ontario during a one year period (2002/2003). Special consideration was given to female offenders from different disposition groups, with different racial backgrounds, with mental health issues and with prior victimization. The LSI-OR had very strong internal consistency and was able to distinguish offenders who committed a re-offence from those who did not commit a re-offence; both when considering the scale as a whole and when considering individual subscales. The LSI OR was also found to predict recidivism for all female offenders. It also predicted recidivism for all subgroups with the exception of female offenders released on a conditional sentence and who had been previously victimized. While the use of the LSI-OR to assess provincial female offenders is supported, however, new risk levels are suggested to increase the predictive ability and reduce the potential for over-classification.

Previous investigations of the Level of Service Inventory Ontario Revision (LSI-OR) have examined individual subgroups of offenders (e.g., women, Aboriginal offenders), which has made comparisons of its predictive validity between specific offender groups suspect. This study was conducted on a complete cohort of 26,450 offenders who were released from Ontario provincial correctional facilities, sentenced to a conditional sentence, or who began a term of probation in 2004. Participants were followed up for at least four years to collect recidivism information on numerous subgroups of offenders including males (81.7%), females (18.3%), Aboriginal (6.4%), Black (7.3%) and Caucasian offenders (59.2%). Analyses revealed that the LSI-OR scores are positively correlated with recidivism (r = .441, p < .001), and similar correlations were found for all offenders regardless of gender or race, (Aboriginal r = .377, p < .001; Black, r = .420, p < .001; Caucasian, r = .417, p < .001; Male, r = .439, p < .001; Female, r = .426, p < .001). LSI-OR scores are also correlated with severity of the recidivism offence, (r = .098, p <.001) indicating that higher LSI-OR scores are related to higher offence severity for all ethnicities, sentence types, and genders. These findings indicate that the LSI-OR is an effective risk assessment tool for use among different ethnicities, sentence types and genders for provincially sentenced offenders in Ontario.

Nowadays firms must develop inventory policies that enable them to cope with the changing marketplace. Determining proper inventory locations can help decrease costs related to inventory holding and transportation. Moreover, this allows firms to respond in a timely manner to customers’ requirements. As a result profit margins can be enhanced as well as the competitiveness of a firm. However, the decision of where to locate inventory in a supply chain is difficult since many companies are managed independently. The present research is developed as a case study where product classification, customer and supplier segmentation schemes are reviewed in order to determine appropriate inventory locations along the supply chain. The thesis is written upon literature and empirical research, where most of the data was collected through personal interviews and observations at the supply chain management offices of a distributor for sealing material parts in Europe. Our conclusion shows that product classification has an important impact on inventory location decisions. Also, we conclude that products should be classified based on both physical characteristics and demand factors, as well as according to customers’ requirements. Another factor to be considered when deciding on inventory location is supply risks, due to issues related to raw material availability and capacity. Nonetheless, the selection of classification variables is challenging as it is hard to determine which factors are more relevant than others as this varies depending on each firms’ needs. In addition, we find that supply chain strategies are not realistic due to the constant changes in the business environment and the inability of a firm to manage whole supply chains. Furthermore, a high level of communication among supply chain partners is fundamental, especially when a centralized inventory policy and a postponement strategy are in place.