Load-Oriented Order Release (LOOR) revisited: bringing it back to the state of the art

In the workload control literature, the Load-Oriented Order Release (LOOR) approach has been neglected since its robustness was questioned at the end of the 1990s. This paper revisits LOOR and evaluates whether its performance can be improved in two ways. First, an intermediate pull release mechanism is added to avoid starvation between periodic release events. This mechanism was recently shown to be effective at improving the performance of a state-of-the-art release method known as LUMS COR. Second, an integer linear programming model is used to manage the trade-off between the timing and load balancing functions of order release. The two refinements are assessed using simulations of different shop configurations, which allow us to evaluate robustness. Results demonstrate that the refinements contribute to improving the performance of LOOR such that it can even outperform LUMS COR. Perhaps counter-intuitively, putting more emphasis on load balancing than on the urgency of individual orders is shown to lead to a lower percentage of tardy orders. Overall, the improvements mean that concerns about LOOR’s robustness are no longer valid – it now appears suitable for a wide range of shops found in practice.     

Job quality,industrial relations and the crisis in Europe

This paper reports results from recent Eurofound research on the impact of the crisis on industrial relations and working conditions in Europe, based on the output of Eurofound's European Working Conditions Observatory and European Industrial Relations Observatory and data from the European Working Conditions Survey. Overall, the crisis – even if it is sometimes difficult to separate the effect of the crisis from megatrends in working conditions and industrial relations – seems to have had an impact on both domains. With reference to industrial relations, the impact of the crisis has influenced actors, processes, and outcomes. Regarding working conditions, the results appear to be in line with the literature on the topic, which relates the crisis to an increase in job insecurity, a decrease in work intensity, in working hours, and in anti-social working time arrangements, and a general improvement in terms of health risks and related outcomes.     

Insecure times? Workers' perceived job and labor market security in 23 OECD countries

By examining the association between employees' perceptions of job security and central labor market policies and characteristics, this paper seeks to understand the mechanisms through which institutions generate confidence and positive expectations among individuals regarding their economic future. The analyses distinguish between different facets of perceived job security and different institutional mechanisms. My multilevel analyses of a data set that contains information on 12,431 individuals and 23 countries show that some labor market policies and characteristics are more likely than others to provide workers with subjective security. Unemployment assistance in particular is an effective means of reducing workers' worries about job loss. Dismissal protection, by contrast, only unleashes its psychologically protective effects under certain conditions. The paper's main conclusion is that the effectiveness of policies varies and that different types of labor market institutions serve as complements rather than as substitutes.     

Bayesian adaptive dose‐escalation designs for simultaneously estimating the optimal and maximum safe dose based on safety and efficacy

The main purpose of dose‐escalation trials is to identify the dose(s) that is/are safe and efficacious for further investigations in later studies. In this paper, we introduce dose‐escalation designs that incorporate both the dose‐limiting events and dose‐limiting toxicities (DLTs) and indicative responses of efficacy into the procedure. A flexible nonparametric model is used for modelling the continuous efficacy responses while a logistic model is used for the binary DLTs. Escalation decisions are based on the combination of the probabilities of DLTs and expected efficacy through a gain function. On the basis of this setup, we then introduce 2 types of Bayesian adaptive dose‐escalation strategies. The first type of procedures, called “single objective,” aims to identify and recommend a single dose, either the maximum tolerated dose, the highest dose that is considered as safe, or the optimal dose, a safe dose that gives optimum benefit risk. The second type, called “dual objective,” aims to jointly estimate both the maximum tolerated dose and the optimal dose accurately. The recommended doses obtained under these dose‐escalation procedures provide information about the safety and efficacy profile of the novel drug to facilitate later studies. We evaluate different strategies via simulations based on an example constructed from a real trial on patients with type 2 diabetes, and the use of stopping rules is assessed. We find that the nonparametric model estimates the efficacy responses well for different underlying true shapes. The dual‐objective designs give better results in terms of identifying the 2 real target doses compared to the single‐objective designs.     

Vocational education,self‐employment and burnout among Australian workers

We examine the relationship between vocational education and occupational burnout among workers in different forms of employment. Although the self‐employed enjoy higher levels of job autonomy and work‐related satisfaction, we do not know whether they experience lower rates of occupational burnout, and whether vocational education plays a role in this relationship. This latter consideration is important, given that vocational qualifications often lead to self‐employment and prior research demonstrated that formal training may reduce burnout. However, formal education was previously measured in years of schooling, without considering the distinction between academically‐oriented and vocational courses. Therefore, using data from a 2001 national survey of working Australians, we first establish that the self‐employed are significantly less likely to experience burnout. We then demonstrate that some resilience to burnout can be attributed to the attainment of skilled vocational training, net of employment characteristics which are also very important.     

Oiling the wheels? Flexible labour markets and the migration industry

ABSTRACT

The growing commercialisation of migration, often through a multiplicity of labour market intermediaries, is an issue of increasing academic interest. We seek to contribute to an emerging research agenda on the migration industries by exploring how one of the key actors that constitutes it, recruitment agencies, sits at the nexus between flexible labour market structures and migrant labour. Interviews with U.K. labour providers and low-wage employers form the evidence base for an analysis of the strategies developed by recruiters to derive commercial gain from connecting the so-called ‘supply’ and ‘demand’ sides of the flexible international labour market. We seek to contribute to understandings of the analytical categories within migration systems by illustrating how the migration industry interacts with other key stakeholders to structure international migration.     

大学生村官留任意愿及影响因素分析

利用第一手的大学生村官问卷调查资料,基于Ordered Logistic模型对陕西省282名大学生村官的工作满意度及留任意愿进行了相关分析和回归分析。结果表明：当前大学生村官的工作满意度与留任意愿普遍较低;留任意愿与大学生最初选择从事村官工作的动机紧密相关;大学生村官的性别、年龄、从事村官年限、婚育状况、学历等人口学特征对工作满意度及留任意愿影响显著;社会各界对大学生村官的重视与认可对工作满意度与留任意愿有显著影响;提高大学生村官的收入水平、实行连续三年考核优秀,直接晋升事业编制的政策以及增加晋升为国家公务员等政治机会能够显著提高大学生村官的工作满意度并增强留任意愿,而其它因素对于提高大学生村官的工作满意度与留任意愿的效果并不明显。     

基于CAN总线的隧道通风监测系统设计

为了实现隧道通风监测系统的高安全可靠性、远距离信息传输、多节点网络监测等要求,提出了基于CAN总线 技术的隧道通风监控系统。设计了基于CAN总线技术的控制系统硬件结构,介绍了烟雾和温度检测原理;设计了基于 CAN总线的通风系统监测节点;设计了工控机与CAN总线通信接口适配卡;设计了系统主程序、事件检查和处理子程序 的流程图。应用结果表明该系统具有传输距离远、监测网络节点多等特点,大大提高了系统的实时性和可靠性。     

网上招聘广告的人际意义研究

本文主要以Halliday的系统功能语法中的人际功能为理论框架,以在互联网上两大专业招聘网站收集的三十篇招聘广告为语料,从语气、情态及对话性三方面对其进行了人际意义分析,探求了该类广告是如何运用语言手段达到劝说的交际目的.     

高校图书馆人力资源管理现状及其对策

图书馆是高校教学科研高质量进行的重要保障之一.然而高校图书馆多年来一直都被束缚在传统的人事制度和资源分配制度之下,改革进度不大,严重影响了图书馆的建设.笔者认为高校图书馆的建设进入到一个"以人为本"的阶段,以读者为中心开展多种服务,满足多种需要;以馆员为中心,提供宽松的环境发挥其主观能动性和创造性,从而促使高校图书馆进一步发展.而这一切都要先从图书馆的人力资源建设做起.