Staff rostering in call centers providing employee transportation

We address the staff rostering problem in call centers with the goal of balancing operational cost, agent satisfaction and customer service objectives. In metropolitan cities such as Istanbul and Mumbai, call centers provide the transportation of their staff so that shuttle costs constitute a significant part of the operational costs. We develop a mixed integer programming model that incorporates the shuttle requirements at the beginning and end of the shifts into the agent-shift assignment decisions, while considering the skill sets of the agents, and other constraints due to workforce regulations and agent preferences. We analyze model solutions for a banking call center under various management priorities to understand the interactions among the conflicting objectives. We show that considering transportation costs as well as agent preferences in agent-shift assignments provides significant benefits in terms of both cost savings and employee satisfaction.     

解析《野性的呼唤》中的自然主义

杰克.伦敦是美国自然主义作家中的杰出代表,他的作品《野性的呼唤》则充分体现了战胜敌人后而存活所需的力量与勇气,表达了适者生存的原则。而巴克传奇经历及其主题思想的揭示对当今中国不能不说有其特定的社会教育意义。     

A call for action that cannot go to voicemail: Research activism to urgently improve Indigenous perinatal health and wellbeing

In this call to action, a coalition of Indigenous and non-Indigenous researchers from Australia, Aotearoa New Zealand, United States and Canada argue for the urgent need for adequately funded Indigenous-led solutions to perinatal health inequities for Indigenous families in well-resourced settler-colonial countries. Authors describe examples of successful community-driven programs making a difference and call on all peoples to support and resource Indigenous-led perinatal health services by providing practical actions for individuals and different groups.     

回流经济精英掌权的辩证思考

由于价值目标和社会流动等因素,部分农村经济精英回归乡村,积极介入村庄政治,并且通过竞选掌控村庄公共权力,从而引发村庄权力结构的重组,实现了精英的异向流动。充分发挥回流经济精英在乡村治理中的积极性并克服其弊病,对于保持村庄政治良性运行,构建和谐社会具有重要意义。     

对《野性的呼唤》中巴克形象的再解读

《野性的呼唤》是美国著名作家杰克.伦敦的作品。小说描写一只名叫巴克的狗被骗卖到北方之后逐渐由狗变成狼的过程。该文通过对巴克形象的塑造,以狗喻人,来反映作者对现实“文明社会”的看法,阐述自己的人生哲学。     

《呐喊》的叙事视角类型及其话语表达模式的翻译

《呐喊》小说集是鲁迅问鼎文坛的一部力作,也是中国现代小说创立的基石和成熟的标志。以往对鲁迅作品的研究偏重于对其思想性、革命性和社会性的分析,对其艺术形式的探讨、特别是对其小说中多种叙事视角的应用及转换的研究重视不够。从叙事学的角度切入,主要分析鲁迅小说集《呐喊》中叙事视角的三种类型及其转换,以展现其对中国现代小说叙事的深远影响。简要分析不同叙事视角的选择对小说话语表达模式的影响,并通过对比分析汉英两种语言在话语表达模式上的异同,结合《呐喊》原文本与杨宪益和戴乃迭合译的《呐喊》译本,探索各种言语表达模式的翻译策略,以期对小说叙事中不同表达模式的翻译有所启示。     

零息回购转债：一种有效制约经理机会主义的国有股回购工具

本文认为,零息回购转债在制约经理人投资不足或投资过度方面的性能优于“增发后回购”、股转债等其它国有股回购方案。并且,无论国有股减持后是否仍占控股比例,股东是否决定赎回权的行使对零息回购转债制约经理机会主义的作用没有影响。不同于股转债,零息回购转债另一个优点是避免了巨额现金流出,不致令上市公司在回购后承担过重的利息负担和过大的财务风险。     

屈辞《招魂》新辨

楚辞《招魂》用于为楚怀王举行国丧活动中招魂仪式第一阶段。诗序叙巫觋扮演怀王亡魂、上帝、巫阳,交代招魂事由。招魂活动始于楚境旷野秦、楚交接灵车时,由巫阳招魂至郢都修门,转由巫官工祝引魂回故居。该诗是屈原在祭辞基础上改创而成。其题旨是:外陈四方之恶,内崇楚国之美;明招怀王之魂,暗寓忠君爱国之意。     

关于依托森林公园建设“后花园”的思考

把江西建设成为沿海经济发达地区休闲旅游的后花园、实现江西在中部地区的崛起是江西省委近期作出的一项重大战略决策.笔者以依托建设森林公园、发展森林旅游进而建设"后花园"的独特视角,首先论述了发展森林旅游的客观必然性,进而阐明了森林公园、森林旅游、"后花园"三者之间发展建设的内在联系,并就如何把森林公园建设成为"后花园"、发展旅游阳光产业提出了清晰而又具操作性的思路和对策.     

Global economy of signs and selves: A view of work regimes in call centers in the Philippines

Reflecting on the global nature of third-party offshore call center and its implications on the agent, this piece is an account of the researcher's own experience, observations, and interactions as a call center worker. Using the theoretical frame Global economy of signs and selves, weaving ideas from Scott Lash and John Urry, Pierre Bourdieu and Erving Goffman, the study looks at some dimensions and conditions of global service work experienced by Filipino agents. With the relocation of accounts offshore, call centers in the Philippines have given rise to a growing section of society required by the imperatives of their work to “defy” time and space, synchronizing their cycles and routines according to the rhythms and cycles of a distant social dimension and the imperatives of globalized production. Although relocation has allowed firms to reduce costs and make use of cheaper labor, the distance traversed by this new call center platform comes with some hidden costs, borne by workers, who may themselves take these other forms of work they deliver for granted. Highlighting under-emphasized, undervalued and misrecognized aspects of call center work, the study attempts to link the global, the local and the personal, while emphasizing the social and symbolic work involved in call center production.