The Emergence of Service Science: Toward Systematic Service Innovations to Accelerate Co‐Creation of Value

The current growth of the service sector in global economies is unparalleled in human history—by scale and speed of labor migration. Even large manufacturing firms are seeing dramatic shifts in percent revenue derived from services. The need for service innovations to fuel further economic growth and to raise the quality and productivity levels of services has never been greater. Services are moving to center stage in the global arena, especially knowledge‐intensive business services aimed at business performance transformation. One challenge to systematic service innovation is the interdisciplinary nature of service, integrating technology, business, social, and client (demand) innovations. This paper describes the emergence of service science, a new interdisciplinary area of study that aims to address the challenge of becoming more systematic about innovating in service.     

Assessment of Patient Classification in Appointment System Design

This paper investigates two approaches to patient classification: using patient classification only for sequencing patient appointments at the time of booking and using patient classification for both sequencing and appointment interval adjustment. In the latter approach, appointment intervals are adjusted to match the consultation time characteristics of different patient classes. Our simulation results indicate that new appointment systems that utilize interval adjustment for patient class are successful in improving doctors' idle time, doctors' overtime and patients' waiting times without any trade‐offs. Best performing appointment systems are identified for different clinic environments characterized by walk‐ins, no‐shows, the percentage of new patients, and the ratio of the mean consultation time of new patients to the mean consultation time of return patients. As a result, practical guidelines are developed for managers who are responsible for designing appointment systems.     

Operations in the Service Industries: Introduction to the Special Issue

This special issue of Production and Operations Management offers a sample of ongoing research that focuses currently on the services industries. The articles selected cover a spectrum of application areas as well as methodologies.     

Tracing ‘driver’ versus ‘modulator’ information flow throughout large-scale,task-related neural circuitry

Primary objective: To determine the relative uses of neural action potential (‘spike’) data versus local field potentials (LFPs) for modeling information flow through complex brain networks. Hypothesis: The common use of LFP data, which are continuous and therefore more mathematically suited for spectral information-flow modeling techniques such as Granger causality analysis, can lead to spurious inferences about whether a given brain area ‘drives’ the spiking in a downstream area. Experiment: We recorded spikes and LFPs from the forelimb motor cortex (M1) and the magnocellular red nucleus (mRN), which receives axon collaterals from M1 projection cells onto its distal dendrites, but not onto its perisomatic regions, as rats performed a skilled reaching task. Results and implications: As predicted, Granger causality analysis on the LFPs—which are mainly composed of vector-summed dendritic currents—produced results that if conventionally interpreted would suggest that the M1 cells drove spike firing in the mRN, whereas analyses of spiking in the two recorded regions revealed no significant correlations. These results suggest that mathematical models of information flow should treat the sampled dendritic activity as more likely to reflect intrinsic dendritic and input-related processing in neural networks, whereas spikes are more likely to provide information about the output of neural network processing.     

资本体现式技术进步及其对经济增长的贡献率(1981—2007)(英文)

本文将资本分为建筑资本和设备资本两类,利用内生经济增长模型阐释资本体现式技术进步对经济增长的作用,并利用资本质量指数调整设备资本存量,考察资本即期服务效率调整后的资本体现式技术进步对我国经济增长的贡献率,结果显示:设备资本投资中的体现式技术进步年均增长率为4.78%,对经济增长的贡献率为10.6%,占资本贡献的14.8%。技术进步贡献呈阶段性变化,且不同类型技术进步贡献出现分化。相对于20世纪80年代,90年代后资本体现式技术进步贡献呈下降趋势,而中性技术进步贡献呈现先降后升的变化特征,但降幅大、升幅小。     

凭单制购买养老服务中的问题与成因——以北京市养老服务券政策为例

2008年以来,北京市开始尝试凭单制购买养老服务这一方式,帮助老年人在社区养老,同时对社区养老服务企业进行鼓励和扶助。但是在实践中出现了养老服务券贬值、违规兑换现金等问题。原因在于政府、企业、老年人之间不能有效互动,以及老年人主导地位的缺失。政府在这一政策中的地位至关重要,其角色应该由服务的"指挥员"转变为"服务员"或"裁判员"。     

成本信息不对称下的应用服务外包菜单式合约

客户企业实施应用服务外包时,面临着成本信息不对称所带来的风险。针对该问题,以客户企业期望收入最大化为目标,在应用服务提供商(Application Service Provider, ASP)所拥有的成本效率参数及努力水平不可观测下研究客户企业如何通过服务外包菜单式合约的设计激励ASP付出最优的努力水平,并显示出真实的成本信息。研究表明,收益共享系数是成本效率参数、风险规避度、产出方差的减函数;客户企业向ASP支付的期望服务报酬除了补偿保留效用与服务生产成本还将额外支付风险成本、信息租金;风险成本随风险规避度、产出方差递增,随成本效率参数递减;信息租金随风险规避度、产出方差、成本效率参数递减。     

Bootstrap estimation and model selection for multivariate normal mixtures using parallel computing with graphics processing units

In applications of multivariate finite mixture models, estimating the number of unknown components is often difficult. We propose a bootstrap information criterion, whereby we calculate the expected log-likelihood at maximum a posteriori estimates for model selection. Accurate estimation using the bootstrap requires a large number of bootstrap replicates. We accelerate this computation by employing parallel processing with graphics processing units (GPUs) on the Compute Unified Device Architecture (CUDA) platform. We conducted a runtime comparison of CUDA algorithms between implementation on the GPU and that on a CPU. The results showed significant performance gains in the proposed CUDA algorithms over multithread CPUs.     

Using Community-Based Participatory Research to Develop a Series of Core Competency Trainings Within a Developmental Disability Program

ABSTRACT

The New York State Talent Development Consortium at the Office for People with Developmental Disabilities (OPWDD) mandated developmental disability programs to train and evaluate direct service providers (DSPs) on seven core competencies. Utilizing community-based participatory research (CPBR) – an approach where clients, providers, and researchers share their knowledge and experience to identify study areas, formulate research questions, and use results to improve practice – a needs assessment was conducted by a New York-based developmental disability program to inform a training curriculum. Six focus groups were conducted from a purposive sample of 14 DSPs, and 19 managers/supervisors. Staff identified skills that corresponded with six out of seven competencies. Staff recommended hands-on training on: appropriate communication to deal with individuals with severe disabilities; professionalism; person-centered care; and education on terminology in behavioral health plans, medication, and mental health illnesses. Empowering DSPs through CBPR allows for a training curriculum catered toward staff needs, which may be well-received and utilized. The CBPR process employed may be beneficial to other agencies within the intellectual and developmental disabilities field, particularly at a time when the demand for nonlicensure providers such as DSPs is increasing, and there is a need to train them to render quality and effective services.     

中国台湾地区社会建设的经验与教训

以中国台湾地区为例,总结台湾地区进行社会建设的阶段性内容、特征及问题,以为大陆目前的实践提供诸如培育中产阶级与经济组织,主导社区营造和社会组织发展,逐步推进全民化的社会公共服务事业等经验借鉴以及行政性的社会建设难以推动社区自组织形成,政府财政负担过重等教训警示.