The purpose of this study was to examine by means of Eysenck Personality Inventory (EPI), the relationship between Neuroticism, and self-rated eating problems. Altogether 105 respondents, mean aged 42,3 years, including 11 men and 94 women, participated by answering an Internet-based questionnaire comprising three different sections. Neuroticism correlated with self-rated eating problems (r=,468, p<0,01). By means of multiple regression analysis it was indicated that both Neuroticism (p<.001) and Body Mass Index (BMI) (p<.001) contributed significantly to the prediction of self-rated eating problems (multiple correlation (ß=.594). The study indicated that the personality only partly explained the variation of eating problems. The result was discussed in terms of significance of biological factors stressing changes in 5-HT levels triggering eating problems.

We consider a decentralized, two-echelon supply chain where the upper echelon --the supplier-- bears the inventory risk. To service the retailers, the supplier either keeps inventory reserved for each of her customers or else pools inventory to share among her customers. The common insight regarding inventory pooling is that it reduces costs and so increases profits for the supply chain party carrying inventory. However, it has recently been shown that inventory pooling may indeed reduce the total supply chain profits. We further show that inventory pooling may reduce supply chain profits even under traditional service contracts based on the frequently invoked measure of service, probability of stock-out. We model the inventory transactions among the retailers and the supplier as a cooperative game. The players have the option of reserving inventory or forming inventory-pooling coalitions. The total profit of the coalitions is allotted to the players using a profit-sharing mechanism based on Shapley value. We analyze the properties of the proposed profit-sharing scheme in two steps. We first consider a stylized model with two retailers who are not necessarily identical. Then we extend the analysis to an arbitrary number of identical retailers. In both cases, we assume the demand across retailers is independent. We find that the Shapley value allocations coordinate the supply chain and are individually rational. However for more than two retailers, they may not be in the core. Even when they satisfy all the stability properties, including membership in the core, they may be perceived unfair since a player's allocation can exceed his contribution to the total supply chain profit. In addition to analyzing the stability properties of the proposed allocation mechanism, we are also interested in the types of behavior the mechanism induces in the players. We find that the retailers prefer pooling partners with either very high or low service level requirements and the supplier prefers retailers with low service requirements since this gives her the ability to maximize her profit allocation. Finally, we analyze the effects of demand variance on the allocations and the profitability of strategic retailer coalitions.

We analyze the problem of distributing units of a product, by a capacitated vehicle, from one storage location (depot) to multiple retailers. The demand processes at the retailers are stochastic and time-dependent. Based on current inventory information, the decision maker decides how many units of the product to deposit at the current retailer, or pick up at the depot, and which location to visit next. We refer to this problem as the stochastic vendor managed inventory (SVMI) problem. In the Markov decision process model of the SVMI problem, we show how a retailer continues to be the vehicle's optimal destination as inventory levels of the retailers vary. Furthermore, an optimal inventory action is shown to have monotone relations with the inventory levels. The multi-period SVMI problem and the infinite horizon (periodic) SVMI problem are analyzed. Additionally, we develop three suboptimal solution procedures, complete a numerical study, and present a case study, which involves a distribution problem at the Coca-Cola Enterprises, Inc. We consider four variations of the SVMI problem, which differ in the available state information and/or the vehicle routing procedure. Analytically, we compare the optimal expected total rewards for the SVMI problem and its variations. Our computational experience suggests a complementary relationship between the quality of state information and the size of the set of retailers that the vehicle can visit.

This research deals with chemical transport Problems involving maritime pick up from and delivery to storage tanks that are continuously filled and drained. More specifically, we developed decision technology to determine the efficient use of multi compartment bulk ships to transport chemical products while ensuring continuous production with no stock-outs, so that the inventory level of chemical products in storage tanks are maintained between prescribed upper and lower stock levels during the planning horizon. Due to the nature of the products, it is impossible to carry more than two products without these being separated into dedicated compartments of the ships. We need to decide how much of each product to carry, on which ship, subject to the conditions that all harbors must have sufficient product to meet demand, and the stock levels of the products cannot exceed the inventory capacity of that harbor. We have formulated this ship-routing problem as a combined multi-ship pickup-delivery problem with inventory constraints. The original problem is a large-scale non-convex mixed-integer programming problem. All non-convexities involved weighted sums of products of two variables, one of which is binary and the other is continuous but bounded. We have shown that the structure gives rise to an equivalent large-scale linear mixed-integer programming problem (MILP). We studied the underlying structure of the MILP and developed a solution strategy by Lagrangian relaxation method for this large scale MILP with special structure. We also devised heuristic methods that are fast and find a good solution and conducted numerical studies that show how good does the heuristic solution compared to the dual bounds.

To date, closed form optimal solutions for stocking levels in arborescent multiechelon inventory systems have not been obtained. These problems exhibit the joint difficulties of requiring an allocation policy as well as a stocking policy, and the multidimensional nature of their state space makes dynamic programming formulations impractical. In this dissertation, we introduce procedures that approximate multiechelon networks with sets of single installation problems. We first use this technique to solve for base-stock levels in a distribution network with asymmetric retailers. Second, we use this technique to analyze delayed differentiation production processes and provide guidance as to when the strategy is most warranted. Third, we modify the technique to account for inventory that exhibits perishability and solve for stocking policies for distribution systems when the inventory has a fixed shelf life.

The purposes of this study were to discover patterns in test scores when both the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator and the Strong Interest Inventory are used simultaneously and to offer career counselors practical ways to interpret the scores when counseling their clients. To do this, the researcher conducted one study using canonical correlation to study the relationships and interrelationships between scores on the MBTI dichotomies and the SII GOTs. A second study utilized MANOVA to increase our understanding of age and gender differences in scores on these two instruments. Another study sought to use case examples of clients who had completed both tests to explain practical ways that career counselors can help their clients understand and apply results of both tests in ways that most benefit the clients’ career decision making. From the results of these studies, it would appear that the most common scores to occur simultaneously on both tests at once are MBTI Intuition, and SII Artistic. One could conclude from this that the personality characteristic of enjoying working in settings that allow for creative endeavor is particularly strong relative to other personality characteristics measured by these tests. We could also conclude that as individuals age, they are more likely to prefer working in settings that allow them to pursue creative endeavors. Another conclusion supported by this data indicates that men are more comfortable with career fields that are unstable and entrepreneurial than women throughout the lifespan.

In this research, we consider production/inventory management decisions of a rmthat sells its product in two market segments during a nite planning horizon. In thebeginning of each period, the rm makes a decision on how much to produce basedon the production capacity and the current on-hand inventory available. After theproduction is made at the beginning of the period, the rm rst satises the stochasticdemand from customers in its primary market. Any primary market demand thatcannot be satised is lost. After satisfying the demand from the primary market, ifthere is still inventory on hand, all or part of the remaining products can be sold ina secondary market with ample demand at a lower price. Hence, the second decisionthat the rm makes in each period is how much to sell in the secondary market, orequivalently, how much inventory to carry to the next period.The objective is to maximize the expected net revenue during a nite planninghorizon by determining the optimal production quantity in each period, and theoptimal inventory amount to carry to the next period after the sales in primary andsecondary markets. We term the optimal inventory amount to be carried to the nextperiod as \economic retention quantity". We model this problem as a nite horizonstochastic dynamic program. Our focus is to characterize the structure of the optimalpolicy and to analyze the system under dierent parameter settings. Conditioning on given parameter set, we establish lower and upper bounds on the optimal policyparameters. Furthermore, we provide computational tools to determine the optimalpolicy parameters. Results of the numerical analysis are used to provide furtherinsights into the problem from a managerial perspective.

The purpose of this study was to examine archival data collected from the administration of the Cultural Awareness and Belief Inventory (CABI) (Webb-Johnson & Carter, 2005) in an urban district located in the southwestern United States. Specifically, the study examined whether differences exist between Pre-K through second grade urban teachers' perceptions and third through fourth grade urban teachers' perceptions of cultural awareness and beliefs as measured by the CABI in one urban district. Of the respondents, 399 Pre-K through second grade teachers' perceptions and 219 third through fourth grade teachers' perceptions of eight factors were measured by the CABI. These factors included: A) Teacher Beliefs, B) School Climate, C) Culturally Responsive Classroom Management, D) Home and Community Support, E) Cultural Awareness, F) Curriculum and Instruction, G) Cultural Sensitivity and H) Teacher Efficacy (Roberts-Walter, 2007). Further, by comparing the perceptions of the Pre-K through second grade teachers and those of the third through fourth grade teachers, this study investigated the differences between the perceptions of the teachers held responsible for their students? test scores and those teachers employed in grades in which students are not given state-mandated tests. The difference between the Pre-K through second grade teachers' perceptions and the third through fourth grade teachers' perceptions were indicated in only one factor of the eight measured by the CABI. A difference in both groups' perceptions was determined in the factor, Cultural Sensitivity. The results indicated that the Pre-K through second grade teachers' were more culturally sensitive than the third through fourth grade teachers.

This paper evaluates how a firm uses vendor managed inventory (VMI) to manage inventories under costs constraint in uncertainly industrial environment and various demand. The emphasis of this research is to discuss the impacts how demand variation influences the effects of the firm executing VMI and how different supplier levels (ABC) affects firm¡¦s VMI strategy. This research built a cost model which contained construction cost, overhead cost, inventory cost, and shortage cost and compared the profits ex-using VMI with the profits using VMI. Furthermore, use the same model to find out the most proper VMI decisions in different supplier levels¡¦ conditions. This paper obtained some conclusions. First, the firm using VMI under uncertain demand would take more advantages than under certain demand. Second, we can find the best VMI strategy of a firm.

In this study we consider an inventory routing problem in which a supplier distributes a single product to multiple retailers in a finite planning horizon. Retailers should satisfy the deterministic and dynamic demands of end customers in the planning horizon, but the retailers can backorder the demands of end customers considering the supply chain costs. In each period the supplier decides the retailers to be visited, and the amount of products to be supplied to each retailer by a fleet of vehicles. The decision problems of the supplier are about when, to whom and how much to deliver products, and in which order to visit retailers while minimizing system-wide costs. We propose a mixed integer programming model and a Lagrangian relaxation based solution approach in which both upper and lower bounds are computed. We test our solution approach with test instances taken from the literature and provide our computational results.