Structural Pluralism and Life Expectancy in Less-Developed Countries: The Role of Women's Status

This study replicates a previous finding forthe U.S. counties that showed a strongassociation, net of controls between``structural pluralism' and lower mortality. ``Structural pluralism' refers to a community'scapacity for political competition, and is acore element of ``democracy.' Pluralism hasthis effect because it facilitates theacquisition of appropriate medical facilitiesand because it tends to optimize the biologicalfunctioning of the residents. Working from amajor component of pluralism, minorityparticipation, this hypothesis is tested byshowing that women's status in less developedcountries improves life expectancy net ofcontrols. A path analysis demonstrates thatthe structural dimensions work through healthorganization as an intervening variable, andthe future testing of biological optimizationis outlined. Location in Africa south of theSahara is a partially unexplained controlvariable that has a powerful negative impact. Interpreting women's status as a component ofpluralism explains why it predicts increasedlife expectancy for all citizens, not justwomen. It is a global dimension that affectsall the members of a community.     

死者人格利益法律保护之构建

死者无人格权,但死者具有人格利益。为了维护社会利益和善良风俗,我国法学界和司法实务界对死者人格利益保护也达成了共识。完善死者人格利益应在保护范围、行使主体、法律责任、免责事由及保护期限等方面给予立法规制。     

农产品品牌传播关键节点研究--基于青岛市农产品品牌触点管理的调研

褚橙、柳桃等品牌农产品的高调走红,吸引更多目光聚焦在农业这块“品牌荒地”,重新审视农产品品牌与消费者个性沟通体系的构建。基于品牌触点管理理论,结合青岛市农产品品牌触点管理的调研数据,文章指出产品、渠道、体验、品牌活动等触点是农产品品牌与消费者关系建立的关键点,是影响农产品品牌传播效果的重要元素。农产品品牌可强化产品整体概念,规范产品包装体系;甄选渠道,加大终端管理;深耕消费者体验,“定制”个性营销,以此提升品牌传播绩效。     

中小企业核心竞争力的培育和提升

中小企业存在问题的原因是多方面的,有企业外部的原因,比如政府扶持力度不够、融资环境有待改善、市场经济体制的完善尚需时日等,但主要还是由中小企业自身存在的劣势所决定的。以中小企业为目标,从并购、一体多元化、加盟集聚三个方面论述培育和提升其核心竞争力的措施。     

A probabilistic clustering method for data elements with normal distributed attributes

By considering uncertainty in the attributes common methods cannot be applicable in data clustering. In the recent years, many researches have been done by considering fuzzy concepts to interpolate the uncertainty. But when data elements attributes have probabilistic distributions, the uncertainty cannot be interpreted by fuzzy theory. In this article, a new concept for clustering of elements with predefined probabilistic distributions for their attributes has been proposed, so each observation will be as a member of a cluster with special probability. Two metaheuristic algorithms have been applied to deal with the problem. Squared Euclidean distance type has been considered to calculate the similarity of data elements to cluster centers. The sensitivity analysis shows that the proposed approach will converge to the classic approaches results when the variance of each point tends to be zero. Moreover, numerical analysis confirms that the proposed approach is efficient in clustering of probabilistic data.     

Contextual influence on evaluation capacity building in a rapidly changing environment under new governmental policies

Evaluation capacity building (ECB) is a context-dependent process. Contextual factors affecting ECB implementation have been explored theoretically and practically, but their influence within a changing environment has seldom been discussed. This study examined essential context-sensitive parameters, particularly those involved in implementing new governmental policies regarding higher education. Taiwan was used as a case study for exploring the effect of contextual change on ECB attributes from the perspectives of training receivers and providers. Surveys and interviews were used for data collection and importance–performance analysis was applied for data analysis. Four prominent features were identified. First, the ECB attributes perceived as important by receivers were performed adequately, whereas those perceived as less important were performed less well. Second, under new policies, training provider designed training covering a wide range of ECB, whereas receivers focused on those can be directly applied in evaluation process. Third, in a small education system such as Taiwan’s, the complexity of peer review is high and ethical issues become important. Fourth, because the evaluation structure has been changed from single- to dual-track, receivers expect more training for institution staff, whereas providers insist on hierarchical training. Aligning ECB supply and needs is paramount for adaptation to new policies.     

Operational Risk in Financial Services: A Review and New Research Opportunities

We present a framework to describe and analyze operational risk in financial services from an operations management perspective, focusing in particular on process design, process management, and human behavior aspects. The financial services industry differs from other service industries in ways that affect the nature of the operational risks it is subject to. In recent decades, many books and papers have focused on operational risk in financial services; however, this literature has focused mainly on the conceptual and statistical aspects of operational risk management and not on its operational aspects. Operational risk in financial services has not received much attention from the operations management community. The framework presented here is based on the premise that operational risk in financial services can reap significant benefits from research done in the theory and practice of operations management in manufacturing industries as well as in other services industries. The objective of this study is to propose particular challenges and questions raised in the practice of operational risk management that may stimulate future research in this particular area of operations management.     

Optimal Dynamic Order Scheduling under Capacity Constraints Given Demand‐Forecast Evolution

We consider a manufacturer without any frozen periods in production schedules so that it can dynamically update the schedules as the demand forecast evolves over time until the realization of actual demand. The manufacturer has a fixed production capacity in each production period, which impacts the time to start production as well as the production schedules. We develop a dynamic optimization model to analyze the optimal production schedules under capacity constraint and demand‐forecast updating. To model the evolution of demand forecasts, we use both additive and multiplicative versions of the martingale model of forecast evolution. We first derive expressions for the optimal base stock levels for a single‐product model. We find that manufacturers located near their market bases can realize most of their potential profits (i.e., profit made when the capacity is unlimited) by building a very limited amount of capacity. For moderate demand uncertainty, we also show that it is almost impossible for manufacturers to compensate for the increase in supply–demand mismatches resulting from long delivery lead times by increasing capacity, making lead‐time reduction a better alternative than capacity expansion. We then extend the model to a multi‐product case and derive expressions for the optimal production quantities for each product given a shared capacity constraint. Using a two‐product model, we show that the manufacturer should utilize its capacity more in earlier periods when the demand for both products is more positively correlated.     

中职机电专业教学改革探讨

目前科技的飞速发展对中职毕业生提出了越来越高的要求,而学生的各方面素质却相对较差,学习积极性、主动性不高。以能力为本位进行中职机电专业课程体系改革是提高学生机电专业理论水平和动手操作能力的必然选择。根据机电专业岗位群的工作过程,分析了岗位能力要求,从而确定了本专业培养目标,设计了基于职业能力和项目化的学习情景,以求改革原有的课程设计理念,实现专业课程教育与工作任务与综合职业能力培养要求相统一的课程体系建设目标。