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To link to full-text access for this article, visit this link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ejor.2007.10.019 Byline: Kazuki Matsumoto (a), Hiroyoshi Miwa (b), Toshihide Ibaraki (b) Keywords: Scheduling; Corrugated paper; Complexity; Contiguous set; Integer programming Abstract: Corrugated paper is produced by gluing three types of papers of the same breadth. Given a set of orders, we first assign each order to one of the standard breadths, and then sequence those assigned to each standard breadth so that they are continuously manufactured from the three rolls of the specified standard breadth equipped in the machine called corrugator. Here we are asked to achieve multi-goals of minimizing total length of roll papers, total loss of papers caused by the differences between standard breadths and real breadths of the orders, and the number of machine stops needed during production. We use integer programming to assign orders to standard breadths, and then develop a special purpose algorithm to sequence the orders assigned to each standard breadth. This is a first attempt to handle scheduling problems of the corrugator machine. Author Affiliation: (a) Department of Applied Mathematics and Physics, Graduate School of Informatics, Kyoto University, Sakyo-ku, Kyoto 606-8501, Japan (b) Department of Informatics, School of Science and Technology, Kwansei Gakuin University, 2-1 Gakuen Sanda, Hyogo 669-1337, Japan Article History: Received 24 March 2007; Accepted 5 October 2007

To link to full-text access for this article, visit this link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ejor.2007.08.033 Byline: Philip C. Jones, Jeffrey W. Ohlmann Keywords: OR in agriculture; Forest economics; Normal forest; Regulated forest; Newsvendor model; Forestry supply chain management Abstract: We consider a vertically integrated papermaking operation composed of an integrated pulp and paper mill with its regional supply network. Considering land procurement and harvest rotation as strategic decision variables, we construct a model to establish a long-range timber supply plan that minimizes the total discounted cost of meeting annual virgin wood fiber demand over an infinite horizon. Under appropriate assumptions on costs and storage, the land procurement and harvest rotation decisions are separable with harvest rotation being determined via a forest economics-type equation and land procurement being determined by a newsvendor-type equation. Author Affiliation: Department of Management Sciences, 108 John Pappajohn Business Building, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA 52242-1994, United States Article History: Received 18 January 2006; Accepted 24 August 2007

The market expectations hypothesis related to term premia for commercial papers issued by United States corporations is analyzed.

The potential of the paper-bill spread to foresee business cycle changes dwindled in the 1980s as liquidity of commercial paper increased. The latter incited investors to consider paper as an approximate alternative for Treasury bills. Consequently, shocks to the paper and bill markets did not significantly affect the paper-bill spread but were actually incorporated by proportional yield alterations in both markets. This findings veer away from explanations that attribute the predictive decline to market contractions and to changes in paper and bill supplies unrelated to business conditions.

The Ming dynasty (1368-1644) abandoned the paper money system established by the Sung dynasty (960-1279) due to inflation problems caused by over-issuance. It was driven to do so by competition from metallic currencies which raised 'interest elasticity of paper money demand.' This is proven using the Cagan adaptive expectations model and the money-in-utility model. Likewise, the Southern Sung government's dependence on a leaning-with-the-wind feedback approach to prevent self-generating inflation is discussed.

A container loading software package for solving the different problems involved in the containerization of pulp and paper products is presented. The software boasts of a packing algorithm for creating a two-dimensional pattern for placing reels on the floor of container, a heuristic algorithm for two-dimensional stowing of reels of a common diameter and a second packing algorithm for stowing pallets of various sizes. Its applicability has been validated in several decision situations which include the determination of feasible reel diameters and efficient stowage patterns.

Data indicate the unreliability of information from the spread for industrial production growth in predicting economic activity contrary to what Benjamin M. Friedman and Kenneth N. Kuttner postulated in a series of articles since 1989. Two outliers in the data indicate the predictive content of the spread, namely, the 1974 Franklin National Bank episode and the imposition of the Carter Credit controls in 1980.

To link to full-text access for this article, visit this link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jebo.2009.03.019 Byline: Ghislaine Lydon Keywords: Institutions; Islamic law; Literacy; Early modern trade; Religion and economics Abstract: This article contributes to the literature on Islamic institutional history by examining how the discounting of documents in Islamic legal practice constrained the organization of early modern Muslim trade. It is argued that the reliance on literacy, on the one hand, and an Islamic legal framework, on the other, gave early modern Muslim traders a comparative advantage in economic organization, but the lack of faith in paper as documentary evidence in Islamic law posed fundamental constraints to the development of Muslim economies. Author Affiliation: Department of History, University of California, 6265 Bunche Hall, Los Angeles, CA 90292, USA Article History: Received 17 November 2007; Revised 23 March 2009; Accepted 23 March 2009

To link to full-text access for this article, visit this link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jfineco.2005.09.007 Byline: Chris Downing (a), Stephen Oliner (b) Abstract: This paper tests a generalized version of the expectations hypothesis in the market for commercial paper. Our main data set, which is new to the literature, consists of daily yield indexes constructed from the market yields for nearly all commercial paper issued by US corporations between 1998 and 2004. We show that term premia for commercial paper often rise dramatically at year-end. However, once we control for these year-end effects, we find considerable support for the generalized expectations hypothesis in the market for commercial paper. Author Affiliation: (a) Jesse H. Jones Graduate School of Management, Rice University, Houston, TX 77005, USA (b) Federal Reserve Board, Washington, DC 20551, USA Article History: Received 8 April 2004; Revised 20 June 2005; Accepted 23 September 2005 Article Note: (footnote) [star] This paper has benefited from discussions with Geert Bekaert, Jim Clouse, Francis Longstaff, and Brian Sack. We thank Tom Bridges and Shannon Hart for excellent research assistance and Jonathan Wright for econometric advice and for providing the computer code we use to calculate robust confidence intervals. All errors and omissions remain our responsibility. The views expressed are ours alone and should not be attributed to the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System or its staff.

Where is European space science heading? The 'Green Paper on European Space Policy' served as the main background document for a European-wide consultation process on space-related issues which took place in 2003, but none of the 12 questions posed in that document specifically addressed nor recognised the role of fundamental research in underpinning any policy for space. As a result of that consultation, this approach was partly corrected in the European Commission's 'White Paper' on space, but uncertainties remain. Involvement in first-class science is absolutely essential for the promotion of European interests and leadership, as it imparts a strong strategic drive to its technological and industrial system. This article discusses the contents of the White Paper and attempts to suggest lines of action concerning space science in relation with the strategy laid out in that document.

This paper shows that interest rate uncertainty rather than leading economic indicators primarily brought about the rapid rise in treasury bills and is a predictor of real industrial output .

The relation between cost benefit analysis (CBA) and cost effectiveness analysis(CEA) is established which is in contradiction to study conducted by Dolen and Edlin.

Joseph Henrich's argument on the problem of group selection is presented. The reason for the argument is not simply to uphold the importance of social structure but also to assert that group selection arguments sustain additional units and levels of selection above the genetic level.

Issues are presented concerning the primitive concepts and oversights in the 'jump search' heuristic presented by S. Tsubakitani and J.R. Evans in their research paper entitled 'An empirical study of a new metaheuristic for the traveling salesman problem'.

The stockholders face severe restrictions on their ability to sell their shares and diversify the risk of their personal wealth. The cost of the liquidity restrictions on stockholders using a continuous-time portfolio choice framework is examined.

Despite its straightened circumstances and doubts about how much political support it receives, Russia's space programme continues - and continues to plan for new activities and applications. This edited version of the National Paper of the Russian Federation, presented at Unispace III in July 1999, details some of the country's major achievements in space in recent years and sets out the main areas it intends to pursue for the early twentieth-first century. While emphasis is placed on communications, remote sensing, navigation and space science, the commitment to manned flight remains.

Usage of pairwise comparison method in sense of analytic hierarchy process to rank factors affecting industrial decision making process is discussed.

It is shown that John Nyman's criticism of the health policy debate is largely irrelevant to the question of demand-side cost sharing.

Scandinavian companies have tended to be predominant in the European paper and pulp industry, but this is changing as waste paper is increasingly used as a raw material. The business system framework is a useful tool for analysing the paper and pulp industry. In some ways an integrated European business system is developing with convergence between systems in Scandinavia and elsewhere in Europe. However, core competencies such as conservation of forests still divide the Scandinavian system from those elsewhere in Europe.