Competitive and Collaborative Quality and Warranty Management in Supply Chains

Product quality and product warranty coverage are two important and closely related operational decisions. A longer warranty protection period can boost sales, but it may also result in dramatically increased warranty cost, if product quality is poor. To investigate how these two decisions interact with each other and influence supply chain performance, we develop a single‐period model with a supplier that provides a product to an original equipment manufacturer, which in turn sells it to customers. Customer demand is random and affected by the length of the product warranty period. Warranty costs are incurred by both the supplier and the manufacturer. We analyze two different scenarios based on which party sets the warranty period: manufacturer warranty and supplier warranty. Product quality is controlled by the supplier, and the manufacturer determines the ordering quantity. We analyze these decentralized systems and provide the structural properties of the equilibrium strategies. We also compare the results of centralized and decentralized systems and identify the conditions under which one system provides a longer warranty and better product quality than the other. Our numerical study further shows that, in decentralized settings, when the warranty period is determined by the firm sharing the larger proportion of total warranty costs, the supply chain can achieve greater system‐wide profit. Both parties can therefore benefit from properly delegating the warranty decision and sharing the resulting additional profit. We further design a supplier‐development and buy‐back contract for coordinating decentralized supply chains. Several extensions are also discussed.     

降低农村初中辍学率和义务教育体制的改革

文章认为学生厌学和学杂费上涨是造成农村义务教育初中阶段较高辍学率的两个重要原因。在目前的办学体制下,财政投资不足是农村学校“寻租行为”合法化的理由,政府控制学杂费上升的各种努力收效不高,同时也造成了激励农村中学提高教育质量的机制缺失,很多农村中学低下的教育质量是造成学生厌学的主要原因。要降低农村初中的辍学率,较为有效的政策是部分开放农村的教育市场,改变政府财政独家承担的投资体制,改革农村教育的管理模式,引入多方资金创办民办学校,在学校收费和办学质量上,与公办学校进行竞争,培育和发展公办学校和民办学校相结合的农村义务教育体制。     

中国能源经济指数研究

为应对当前社会经济和能源发展格局正在发生的深刻变化,提出一套体现新时代发展内涵的能源经济指数来探讨中国未来经济高质量发展的新机遇具有重要的现实意义。基于行业视角,从宏观经济环境、中观产业发展和微观企业表现三个层次,选取宏观经济、政策支持、行业供需、行业高质量、股票指数和财务绩效六大维度,评估能源行业的经济表现。运用2014年第一季度至2020年第二季度数据进行实证测算,结合因子分析、层次分析等方法合成各能源行业得分,再根据各年份能源消费结构赋权合成能源经济指数。结果显示:2017年能源改革初见成效,能源经济指数达到高点;2020年初受新冠疫情冲击能源经济指数跌入低点,但2020年第二季度宏观经济和能源经济开始明显回暖;多数能源行业的高质量发展水平持续提升,其中光伏和新能源车行业最为突出。     

原初境域的隐匿与重现(二)——从解构理论的哲学起点到中西思想的问题谱系

学界之所以对德里达产生种种非法的误读,除了缺乏方法论的自觉之外,一个重要的原因,就是没有找到一种恰当的与解构理论相契合的参照视野。事实上,从解构理论与它所批判的对象的互文性或寄生性的角度看,解构理论已经触及到一个既是从西方思想史内部生发出的,又超越了传统西方思想史的,并与中国古典思想史息息相通的原初境域。只有把握住了这一原初境域,我们才能确定解读德里达的恰当视角。否则,我们将无法理解,解构理论对于中西方思想的走向来讲,究竟有什么价值。     

西方学界的东方转向及其应对:跨文化比较诗学评议

第二次世界大战后,西方殖民主义衰退,文明重心逐渐东移。以跨文化研究为本质特征的比较诗学在20世纪中期以后的兴起和发展,是西方学界的"东方转向"的产物,这意味着文学研究的某种重大转折或某种新的学术范式的确立。东方仅仅是包含了中国而不能等同于中国,在当今的世界文化格局中,中国作为东方多元文化中的一元,所占据的地位和影响还是比较有限的。国内的比较诗学研究基本围绕中西诗学,带有较为浓厚的"西方中心论"色彩,我们还需要向非西方和后发展国家等多方面地拓展我们的比较诗学研究。在跨文化比较诗学研究中自觉推动中国诗学,主动积极融入世界主义诗学话语建构的历史进程,赋予其新的内容与形式,这对于未来中国诗学的学术创新具有重要意义。     

价值网络的价值创造、锁定效应及其关系研究综述

通过理论综述和演绎,本文归纳了价值网络的价值创造过程以及锁定效应的理论内涵;同时,通过归纳和提炼关系模式和网络定位两大权变要素,指出了价值创造与正负面锁定效应的权变关系,为价值网络的整体演进和衰亡以及网络内部成员的发展差异提供了系统的理论支撑。     

浅析古希腊神话中的城邦文明

古希腊神话具有的人本主义、民主精神、自由思想、享乐主义等特点,体现出城邦文明的特征。本文分析了古希腊神话的特点及其表现出的城邦文明,并对比了东西方文化视野中的古希腊神话和中国神话。     

Decision Support System of Truck Routing and Refueling: A Dual‐Objective Approach

The variable‐route vehicle‐refueling problem (VRVRP) is a variant of the network‐flow problem which seeks, for a vehicle traveling from origin s to destination d, both the route and the refueling policy (sequence of fuel stations to use between s and d) that jointly minimize the fuel cost of operating the vehicle. Commercial‐grade decision support systems that solve the VRVRP are widely used by motor carriers, but they provide heuristic solutions only. Exact methods are available from the academic side, but because they focus on minimizing costs, they tend to cut fuel costs in exchange for increased vehicle miles (which can increase fuel consumptions and pollutants emission). We propose a new approach to the VRVRP that allows carriers to jointly seek the two possibly conflicting goals; minimizing fuel cost and vehicle miles. Computational testing shows that our approach (i) outperforms the commercial software products in both goals, and (ii) finds solutions that require significantly less vehicle miles than those given by the exact method proposed in the academic literature, without incurring unacceptable increases in fuel cost.     

辅导员视角下硕士生就业指导工作链条模式探索

随着高校的不断扩招,每年毕业的研究生规模不断扩大,硕士毕业生面临巨大的就业压力.就业难的原因是多方面的,相比于外界因素,通过干预学生个体缓解就业困难更具有可行性.辅导员是高校学生日常思想政治教育和管理工作的组织者、实施者和指导者,开展就业指导工作有着绝对的角色优势和岗位优势.通过就业指导工作链条模式的探索,提高辅导员在硕士生就业中的工作实效性和高效性,为硕士生顺利结业提供帮助.     

A Bayesian latent spatial model for mapping the cortical signature of progression to Alzheimer's disease

Prior studies have shown that atrophy in vulnerable cortical regions is associated with an increased risk of progression to clinical dementia. In this work, we utilize the longitudinal structural magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) data from the Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative (ADNI) to investigate the relationship between the temporally changing spatial topography of cortical thickness and conversion from mild cognitive impairment to Alzheimer's disease (AD). We develop a novel Bayesian latent spatial model that employs the spatial information underlying the thickness effects across the cortical surface. The proposed method facilitates the development of imaging markers by reliably quantifying and mapping the regional vulnerability to AD progression across the cortical surface. Simulation results showed substantial gains in statistical power and estimation performance by accounting for the spatial structure of the association. Using MRI data from ADNI, we examined the topographic patterns of anatomic regions where cortical thinning is associated with an increased risk of developing AD.