Typical OR education programmes are focused on those who should professionally act as ‘‘performers’’ (specialists, modellers, etc.) in the process of business problems solving through quantitative modelling and similar formalized procedures. The problem of unsatisfactory level of understanding between ‘‘specialists’’ and ‘‘generalists’’ (managers, e.g.) has been known for decades; yet we feel t...

U nderstanding and mitigating the effects of disasters requires the integration of research and practice in multiple science, engineering, technology, and social science fields to create a world that’s more resilient in terms of public safety, economic strength, and collective welfare. The January/February 2011 issue of CiSE explored hurricane prediction.1 Hurricanes are one of many natural dis...

Among clinical physicians it is the population study that is considered to be the "gold standard" of medical evidence concerning acceptable treatments. As new information comes to light concerning the many variables and confounding factors that can affect such studies, many older studies lose much of their original impact. While newer population studies take into consideration a far greater num...

Current estimates suggest that between 8 and 22% of children and adolescents may suffer from an anxiety disorder. Effective intervention efforts are therefore clearly needed to reduce the likelihood of anxious symptoms and promote healthy functioning. One intervention that appears feasible for use in schools and was designed to target anxiety symptoms is the FRIENDS for Life program. Evaluation...

The collapse of the Soviet Union was a massive natural experiment that has provided many insights that help our understanding of the determinants of population health. This paper identifies a series of lessons learnt from this experience: (1) Rapid transition can damage health. (2) When undertaking comparative research, it is essential to have a common understanding of what different terms mean...

Planned efforts to relocate human populations often entail protracted struggles over the terms on which local populations may be compensated for the loss of land, assets and livelihoods. In many instances, compensation has been established on the basis of historical market value, which in effect excludes stakeholders (e.g., encroachers, landless laborers, sharecroppers, etc.) whose livelihoods ...

Is there too much or too little private research and development (R&D)? A large empirical literature reports estimates of the rate of return to R&D ranging from 30% to over 100%, supporting the notion that there is too little private investment in research. However, this conclusion is challenged by the new growth theory, which emphasizes a richer description of the connection between R&D and pr...

The problem of determining cause and effect is one of the oldest in the social sciences, where laboratory experimentation is generally not possible. This article provides a perspective on the analysis of causal relationships in population research that draws upon recent discussions of this issue in the field of economics. Within economics, thinking about causal estimation has shifted dramatical...

BACKGROUND Even today, 12% of the children in Sweden live in poverty and many children are exposed to adverse experiences, such as being bullied, which may have long-term consequences on public health. This study examined the associations between economic stress and condescending treatment in childhood and self-rated health (SRH) in adulthood. METHODS The study is based on 26,706 persons who ...

This research explores the links between physical development and transportation infrastructure around Kumasi, Ghana. It utilizes census data as well as fieldwork and interviews carried out during July and December 2005. The results suggest that there is a weak association between transportation investments and physical development, and that recent housing has generally occurred in poorly acces...