Management in the Portsmouth Block Mill, 1803-1812

The Portsmouth Block Mills’ operations are assessed using archival materials showing staff numbers, hours and work assignments, providing insight into scheduling and workload management, capacity availability and use, and overall facility organization and design. A review of production records reveals items made specifically to meet individual production requirements and those made for “stock” and later use, and the Mill’s internal lines ran in a relatively“lean” fashion

Single-Base DNA Discrimination via Transverse Ionic Transport

We suggest to discriminate single DNA bases via transverse ionic transport, namely by detecting the ionic current that flows in a channel while a single-stranded DNA is driven through an intersecting nanochannel. Our all-atom molecular dynamics simulations indeed show that the ionic currents of the four bases are statistically distinct, thus offering another possible approach to sequence DNA.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figure

A computer simulation of oscillatory behavior in primary visual cortex

Periodic variations in correlated cellular activity have been observed in many regions of the cerebral cortex. The recent discovery of stimulus-dependent, spatially-coherent oscillations in primary visual cortex of the cat has led to suggestions of neural information encoding schemes based on phase and/or frequency variation. To explore the mechanisms underlying this behavior and their possible functional consequences, we have developed a realistic neural model, based on structural features of visual cortex, which replicates observed oscillatory phenomena. In the model, this oscillatory behavior emerges directly from the structure of the cortical network and the properties of its intrinsic neurons; however, phase coherence is shown to be an average phenomenon seen only when measurements are made over multiple trials. Because average coherence does not ensure synchrony of firing over the course of single stimuli, oscillatory phase may not be a robust strategy for directly encoding stimulus-specific information. Instead, the phase and frequency of cortical oscillations may reflect the coordination of general computational processes within and between cortical areas. Under this interpretation, coherence emerges as a result of horizontal interactions that could be involved in the formation of receptive field properties

ESTIMATING THE BENEFITS OF REGIONALIZING EMERGENCY MEDICAL SERVICE PROVISION

Local area governments have experienced increasingly stringent budget constraints in recent years. Innovations in service delivery provide one avenue for increasing the effectiveness of resource allocations. This paper explores the potential savings available from regionalizing emergency medical service provision. A mixed integer programming model incorporating peak demand considerations is used to minimize service cost given a desired maximum response time. Changes in the weighted average response time measure the quality degradation required to attain the savings from cooperative provision. The results indicate that the benefits are substantial but that distribution of these gains is a possible barrier to implementation.Health Economics and Policy, Public Economics,

Deconstructing the re-invention of operations management

Purpose: The purpose is to provide an intellectual history of Operations Management, particularly noting recent developments and its underlying continuity with earlier systems and thinking. Operations Management as a discipline identifies its “modern” incarnation as dating from the 1960s when it became more rigorous and managerially focused. This re-invention constructed a “narrative” that the profession still follows, yet a critical perspective reveals significant, though under-appreciated continuity with earlier theory and practice. Design/methodology/approach: This paper presents a comprehensive literature review and comparative analysis of historic developments in management and academia. Findings: In the early 1900s, F. W. Taylor’s Shop Management established Operation Management, but its main component, Scientific Management, had stagnated by the 1950s. At that point, the rise of Management Science both reinvigorated Operations Management and threatened it with a competing new discipline. To compete Operations Management then modernized by redefining itself, reasserting its interest in several areas and co-opting Operational Research tools for those. It also contracted, withdrawing from areas considered vocational, or more suited to Industrial Engineering. Research limitations/implications: This historical overview shows the critical importance of drawing research agenda from practical managerial concerns. Practical implications: Practitioners benefit from the intellectual rigor that academics provide and a historical perspective shows that the relationship has been mutually beneficial. Social implications: The disciplines of Operations Management, Operations Research and Industrial Engineering are complementary and competitive in addressing many problems that transcend their boundaries, and use common ideas and techniques. The demands of “academic rigor” have had a deleterious effect on the practical managerial relevance of these disciplines. Originality/value: A long-term, cross-disciplinary perspective provides a unique understanding of the research interests and practical orientations of these disciplines

The origin of materials requirements planning in Frederick W. Taylor's planning office

Materials Requirements Planning systems appeared without significant provenance. Their theoretical and practical antecedents can be traced to Frederick W. Taylor’s Shop Management that described a production planning and control system comprised of functional foremen and clerks. This system failed for it was too complex, unwieldy and expensive. Nevertheless, some elements survived- for although the whole was unmanageable a few individual functions survived as independent sub-systems. These continued in use; with Taylor’s planning office remaining an ideal and well known theoretical construct. The planning office imposed unbearable information processing demands on contemporary manual systems. But from the mid-1930s accounting machines started providing more capable information technologies that first allowed these individual elements to be implemented as stand-alone applications. Later they were then integrated into more full systems. Taylor’s planning office provided the sub-system pieces and the conceptual framework for their subsequent recombination and extension. This paper traces the evolution of production planning and control systems from Taylor’s planning office to materials requirements planning systems. Not only are the linkages between production management thinking in the different periods unappreciated; but so too are the technological relationships between the information technologies used