Management Planning and Control in Multi-Branch Banking

This paper describes a model developed for a British bank to assist management in establishing branch goals, evaluating performance and planning new locations. Econometric methods are used to produce a set of equations which effectively predicts the main dimensions of branch performance.     

Evaluating the profitability of advertising for heavily advertised brands: an empirical study

Even companies with large advertising budgets are sceptical of OR models in advertising—such models often appear overly complex, unrealistic and costly to use. Here a simple econometric model is proposed which utilises existing company data. The parameters are estimated for the five leading brands in a sector of the German alcoholic drinks market. Estimates of the short and long run advertising elasticities are made and optimum advertising appropriations are calculated.     

Multitude of core-localized shear Alfvén waves in a high-temperature fusion plasma

Evidence is presented for a multitude of discrete frequency Alfvén waves in the core of magnetically confined high-temperature fusion plasmas. Multiple diagnostic instruments confirm wave excitation over a wide spatial range from the device size at the longest wavelengths down to the thermal ion Larmor radius. At the shortest scales, the poloidal wavelengths are comparable to the scale length of electrostatic drift wave turbulence. Theoretical analysis confirms a dominant interaction of the modes with particles in the thermal ion distribution traveling well below the Alfvén velocity.     

Further exploration of antimicrobial ketodihydronicotinic acid derivatives by multiple parallel syntheses

A synthetic reexamination of a series of ketodihydronicotinic acid class antibacterial agents was undertaken in an attempt to improve their therapeutic potential. A convenient new synthesis was developed involving hetero Diels-Alder chemistry producing 74 new analogs in a multiple parallel synthetic manner and these were examined in vitro for their antimicrobial potential. Several compounds demonstrated significant broad-spectrum activity against clinically derived bacterial strains but previously known 1-(2,4-difluorophenyl)-6-(4-dimethylaminophenyl)-4-pyridone-3-carboxylic acid (7) remained the most potent compound in this class. Cross-resistance with ciprofloxacin supported a commonality of mode of action. Permiabilization of Escherichia coli cells by polymyxin B significantly enhanced potency with these agents suggesting that poor cellular uptake was primarily responsible for the disappointing activity against bacteria that some of the analogs exhibited.