Statistical measurement of the inventory shortage cost

In searching for the optimal inventory control policy, the objective is to minimize the expected total costs related, of which the shortage cost is an important element. Due to the difficulty in calculating the indirect cost of the loss of goodwill resulted from the shortage, practitioners and researchers often simply assume a fixed penalty cost on the inventory shortage or switch to the alternative method by assigning a specific customer service level. The development of an appropriate tool for measuring the shortage cost can help a business control the total costs and improve the productivity more effectively. This paper proposes probabilistic measurements of the shortage cost, based on mathematical relationship between the cost and the shortage amount. The derived closed-form estimates of the expected shortage cost value can then be applied to support the determination of the optimal inventory control policy.     

Wikipedia in the anti-SOPA protests as a case study of direct,deliberative democracy in cyberspace

This paper contributes to the discussion on deliberative, direct democracy and volunteer mobilization in the Internet era by analyzing the vote participation levels of Wikipedia volunteer editors (Wikipedians). On 18th January 2012 in the ‘first Internet strike’ against the American ‘Stop Online Piracy Act' legislation, over two thousand Wikipedians took part in the vote concerning whether their site should undertake a protest action, with vast majority expressing support for this action. However, the vote participants formed only a tiny fraction of the total number of Wikipedians who number in millions. Although Wikipedia can be seen as an open, democratic forum practicing deliberative, direct democracy, the process of voting on Wikipedia is significantly influenced by participation inequality, with a majority of the vote participation coming from a small group of most active contributors – an effective oligarchy. This paper discusses the intricate dynamics between Wikipedia egalitarian ethos and the creed to discuss project matters deliberately on one hand and the conspicuous lack of promotion and advertisement stemming from a rule against ‘canvassing’ and an overall skepticism regarding the status of majority votes. While voters' passivity and lack of interest play a major role, as expected, another factor emerges as a significant factor responsible for the low levels of participation: an inefficient information distribution system, as the vast majority of Wikipedians were not aware of the ongoing discussions and the vote itself until after their conclusion.     

‘Back to our Roots?’ Re-visiting psychoanalytically-informed baby and young child observation in the education of student social workers

While there is a well-established literature on psychoanalytically-informed baby and young child observation in social work education, little has been published recently. This paper reviews the rationale for its use, evaluating its impact on students’ learning in the light of contemporary policy and practice contexts facing social work education. Analysis of feedback gained from a recent cohort, identifies three ways in which learning through baby and young child observation contributes: firstly, students encounter and learn about the complexity of child development from the direct experience of observing and secondly, observing facilitates the development of important skills for practice; students’ ‘use of self’. Thirdly, through observing, students describe how they develop the capacity to take-up and sustain a professional role. Well-structured teaching and learning through observation is therefore shown to provide a rigorous, theoretically-grounded contribution to the training of university-based social work students entering this complex and challenging professional field.     

幼儿园实际教育成本的模型构建与核算——以佛山某幼儿园为例

在界定幼儿园实际教育成本含义的基础上，确认其成本项目包含人员支出、公用支出、固定资产折旧和土地使用成本，以此为基础构建了幼儿园实际教育成本计量模型，并以佛山市某幼儿园为例核算出该幼儿园的实际教育成本。通过该园实际教育成本与标准教育成本的比较，发现该幼儿园教育经费投入不足且投入结构不合理，将来应重点增加人员投入。     

1981—2014年中国资本服务流量测算——基于截断正态退役分布和几何役龄效率剖面

通过梳理资本核算理论框架,结合中国实际情况测量了1981-2014年资本服务流量。资本分类、组合役龄效率-退役剖面计算、资本回报率确定和初始单位效率生产性资本存量估计等方面与既有研究有所不同。测量结果表明:按照1990年不变价格,各类资本服务流量呈增加趋势,其中无形资产服务流量前期较为波动;设备类服务流量增速最高;总资本服务增长率前期呈V型后期呈倒U型,与GDP增速变动不一致,整体来看前者高于后者;比较发现测量结果高于其它研究,差距先收敛后扩大。     

高校建设项目前期造价审计策略的研究

在高校建设项目实施的整个过程中，建设前期的造价控制对整个工程项目的造价影响极大，因此高校内审部门应对建设前期的造价审计予以特别重视。然而，高校对建设前期造价审计的运用还处于初步阶段，仍没有形成成熟的操作体系。文章从投资决策、设计、预算编制3个阶段对审计策略分别予以探究，为高校内审人员开展项目前期审计提供思路和实践依据，力争使高校建设项目造价从源头上得到有效控制，提高投资效益。     

FDI与出口贸易品技术含量关系的实证分析

以FDI与我国出口贸易品技术含量的关系作为切入点,选择通信设备、计算机制造业、医药制造业作为高新技术产业的代表,通用设备制造业、专用设备制造业作为传统制造业的代表。根据这4个行业1997—2011年利用外资与出口贸易品技术含量的数据,基于面板数据模型对高新技术产业和传统制造业FDI与出口贸易品技术含量之间的长期均衡关系及相关性进行实证分析。结果表明:高新技术产业利用外资与出口贸易品技术含量存在着长期均衡稳定关系,出口贸易品技术含量随着高新技术产业利用外资的增加而提高,并有明显的促进作用,而传统制造业利用外资对出口贸易品技术含量的影响有限。     

新时期贪污贿赂犯罪防控问题研究——基于法经济学视角的实证分析

贪污贿赂犯罪人员利用职权谋取私利具有经济学理性特征，因此，其行为必然遵从经济学的基本法则。用经济分析的方法研究了贪污贿赂犯罪的产生机理，探讨了贪污贿赂犯罪的预防措施。基于犯罪经济成本收益理论，通过实证分析，认为应增大犯罪成本，控制犯罪收益，以有效预防和减少贪污贿赂犯罪。     

An upper bound on the minimal total cost of the transportation problem with varying demands and supplies

In general cases, to find the exact upper bound on the minimal total cost of the transportation problem with varying demands and supplies is an NP-hard problem. In literature, there are only two approaches with several shortcomings to solve the problem. In this paper, the problem is formulated as a bi-level programming model, and proven to be solvable in a polynomial time if the sum of the lower bounds for all the supplies is no less than the sum of the upper bounds for all the demands; and a heuristic algorithm named TPVDS-A based on genetic algorithm is developed as an efficient and robust solution method of the model. Computational experiments on benchmark and new randomly generated instances show that the TPVDS-A algorithm outperforms the two existing approaches.     

Coordinating contracts for a financially constrained supply chain

We consider a financially constrained supply chain in which a supplier (leader) sells products to a retailer (follower) who has no access to bank financing due to her low credit rating. However, the supplier can borrow from a bank and offer trade credit to the retailer to alleviate her financial constraint. Failure to pay off a bank loan or trade credit incurs a variable default cost. We analyze the centralized version of the supply chain to obtain new coordination requirements. We then examine whether revenue-sharing, buyback, and all-unit quantity discount contracts can coordinate our supply chain. We show that the all-unit quantity discount contract fails to coordinate. However, the revenue-sharing and buyback contracts can coordinate the supply chain, but only when the supply chain has a sufficient total working capital. Moreover, they cannot allocate profit flexibly unless the supplier has a large enough working capital. Finally, we design a generalized revenue-sharing contract that coordinates the supply chain with flexible profit allocation, and also show by numerical examples its superiority over the revenue-sharing and buyback contracts.