Pool‐Point Distribution of Zero‐Inventory Products

We study zero‐inventory production‐distribution systems under pool‐point delivery. The zero‐inventory production and distribution paradigm is supported in a variety of industries in which a product cannot be inventoried because of its short shelf life. The advantages of pool‐point (or hub‐and‐spoke) distribution, explored extensively in the literature, include the efficient use of transportation resources and effective day‐to‐day management of operations. The setting of our analysis is as follows: A production facility (plant) with a finite production rate distributes its single product, which cannot be inventoried, to several pool points. Each pool point may require multiple truckloads to satisfy its customers' demand. A third‐party logistics provider then transports the product to individual customers surrounding each pool point. The production rate can be increased up to a certain limit by incurring additional cost. The delivery of the product is done by identical trucks, each having limited capacity and non‐negligible traveling time between the plant and the pool points. Our objective is to coordinate the production and transportation operations so that the total cost of production and distribution is minimized, while respecting the product lifetime and the delivery capacity constraints. This study attempts to develop intuition into zero‐inventory production‐distribution systems under pool‐point delivery by considering several variants of the above setting. These include multiple trucks, a modifiable production rate, and alternative objectives. Using a combination of theoretical analysis and computational experiments, we gain insights into optimizing the total cost of a production‐delivery plan by understanding the trade‐off between production and transportation.     

Reserving Capacity for Urgent Patients in Primary Care

This paper examines the effect of the common practice of reserving slots for urgent patients in a primary health care practice on two service quality measures: the average number of urgent patients that are not handled during normal hours (either handled as overtime, referred to other physicians, or referred to the emergency room) and the average queue of non‐urgent or routine patients. We formulate a stochastic model of appointment scheduling in a primary care practice. We conduct numerical experiments to optimize the performance of this system accounting for revenue and these two service quality measures as a function of the number of reserved slots for urgent patients. We compare traditional methods with the advanced‐access system advocated by some physicians, in which urgent slots are not reserved, and evaluate the conditions under which alternative appointment scheduling mechanisms are optimal. Finally, we demonstrate the importance of patient arrival dynamics to their relative performance finding that encouraging routine patients to call for same‐day appointments is a key ingredient for the success of advanced‐access.     

Cost Allocation in Manufacturing–Remanufacturing Operations

For firms remanufacturing their products, the total life‐cycle costs and revenues from new and remanufactured products determine their profitability. In many firms, manufacturing/sales and remanufacturing/remarketing operations are carried out in different divisions. Each division is responsible for only part of the product's life cycle. Practices regarding transfer pricing across divisions vary significantly among companies, affecting the life‐cycle profit performance of the product. In this research, we identify characteristics of transfer prices that achieve the firm‐wide optimal solution. To this end, we consider a manufacturer who also undertakes remanufacturing operations and we focus on price (quantity) decisions. We determine that a cost allocation mechanism that allocates a portion of the initial production cost to each of the two stages of the product life cycle should be used. We also conclude that cost allocation should be implemented as a fixed cost allocation, where charges to the remanufacturing division should be determined independently of the actual quantity of units remanufactured.     

On the Existence of Monotone Pure‐Strategy Equilibria in Bayesian Games

We generalize Athey's (2001) and McAdams' (2003) results on the existence of monotone pure‐strategy equilibria in Bayesian games. We allow action spaces to be compact locally complete metric semilattices and type spaces to be partially ordered probability spaces. Our proof is based on contractibility rather than convexity of best‐reply sets. Several examples illustrate the scope of the result, including new applications to multi‐unit auctions with risk‐averse bidders.     

《玲珑》女性话语狂欢中的男性形象建构

《玲珑》杂志在塑造完美摩登女性形象之外同时建构了一个负面的男性形象,并对之大加声讨。在压迫/反抗的女性话语逻辑支配下,男性被建构为施虐者,女性在话语狂欢中完成对男性的反抗和讨伐。然而,话语狂欢终究不能解决现实困境,女性批判男性,寻求自主的同时,却又不由自主地陷入了商业资本的陷阱。《玲珑》杂志中的负面男性形象建构以及女性对男性的话语暴力揭橥了20世纪30年代都市女性面对男性时的复杂心态,映射出她们在消费浪潮、大众传媒与外来文化的轮番刺激下的欲望和挣扎。     

西藏跨越式发展和长治久安的路径探析

坚持走有中国特色、西藏特点的发展路子,推进西藏跨越式发展和长治久安的主要路径有:以经济建设为中心,在科学发展轨道上推进跨越式发展;以做好民族宗教工作和反分裂工作为重点,维护安定团结的政治局面;以满足群众精神文化需求为目的,推动西藏文化大发展大繁荣;以保障和改善民生为出发点和落脚点,加快发展社会事业;以生态建设与环境保护为载体,构建高原生态安全屏障;以提高党的建设科学化水平为目标,为建设社会主义新西藏提供坚强组织保证。     

基于英汉逻辑差异的学术语篇长句汉译策略研究

翻译西方学术文献的主要目的在于促进国内外学术交流和信息传播。然而,由于英汉两种语言的逻辑差异,学术语篇中的长句,一直是翻译中的难点。以学术语篇中由于逻辑差异而导致翻译误差的长句为例,对学术语篇中长句汉译从翻译策略角度进行尝试性的探讨,归纳总结出学术语篇中长句的英汉逻辑差异类型,并对每种类型的长句提出具体的翻译办法,以期促进翻译的实践与教学。     

从中西称谓语看其文化内涵

在汉语和西方语言中,称谓语的使用有极大的不同。在亲属称谓方面,汉语比西语更加细化,不但讲究礼数,区分谦辞和敬辞,还区分直旁系远近亲等。在社会称谓方面,汉语的表达方式也更加丰富。造成这种差异的原因主要可以归结为中西不同的历史、观念和宗教信仰。只有掌握其文化内涵,才能正确理解和使用两种语言中的称谓语,从而顺利完成跨文化交际。     

西昌黄联关镇客话的亲属称谓

本文运用田野调查的方法,系统收集整理了四川省西昌市黄联客家方言岛的亲属称谓词。试从血亲、姻亲和其他关系三个方面来对黄联客家话亲属称谓词做一个系统的描写分析,并对其中部分称谓做了语音上的分析或传统文化含义的阐释。     

闽南语入声韵尾的分布现状及原因推测

根据厦门、泉州、潮州、雷州四处闽南语入声字为材料,分析《广韵》入声韵尾在闽南语中的演变———从[-p][-t][-k]弱化成[-揲]甚至是[-0]。通过对四地有文白异读的入声字的梳理,可以发现,文读音基本没有弱化[-揲]韵尾;白读音中,[-揲]韵尾基本上只分布在咸、山、宕、梗、江五摄中,而很少出现在深、臻、通、曾四摄。同样,在没有文白异读的字里,[-揲]韵尾基本上也只分布于咸、山、宕、梗、江五摄的白读层字中。结合粤方言、晋语等的入声韵尾弱化现象,推测闽南语入声韵尾的分化很有可能是历史上长短元音对立导致的。