Efficient Consumer Altruism and Fair Trade Products

Consumers have shown a willingness to pay a premium for products labeled as “FT” and a preference for retailers that are seen to be more generous to their suppliers/employees. A FT product is essentially a bundle of a base product and a donation to the supplier (e.g., a coffee farmer). An altruistic rational consumer will only choose this bundle if doing so is less expensive than buying the base product and making a direct donation. For FT to be sustainable either in a competitive equilibrium or in a monopolistic environment this bundling must yield an efficiency. This efficiency is generated in the following context. A supplier’s investment reduces the retailer’s cost or boosts the final product’s quality, but this investment is not immediately observable and cannot be enforced, hence there exists a moral hazard problem. In this environment, the altruism of the consumer can facilitate a more efficient contract: by paying the supplier more the retailer can both extract more consumer surplus and increase the level of contracted investment, while preserving the supplier’s incentive compatibility constraint. We assess our model in the context of the coffee industry.     

Pre-positioning hurricane supplies in a commercial supply chain

Inventory control for retailers situated in the projected path of an observed hurricane or tropical storm can be challenging due to the inherent uncertainties associated with storm forecasts and demand requirements. In many cases, retailers react to pre- and post-storm demand surge by ordering emergency supplies from manufacturers posthumously. This wait-and-see approach often leads to stockout of the critical supplies and equipment used to support post-storm disaster relief operations, which compromises the performance of emergency response efforts and proliferates lost sales in the commercial supply chain. This paper proposes a proactive approach to managing disaster relief inventories from the perspective of a single manufacturing facility, where emergency supplies are pre-positioned throughout a network of geographically dispersed retailers in anticipation of an observed storm's landfall. Once the requirements of a specific disaster scenario are observed, supplies are then transshipped among retailers, with possible direct shipments from the manufacturer, to satisfy any unfulfilled demands. The manufacturer's pre-positioning problem is formulated as a two-stage stochastic programming model which is illustrated via a case study comprised of real-world hurricane scenarios. Our findings indicate that the expected performance of the proposed pre-positioning strategy over a variety of hurricane scenarios is more effective than the wait-and-see approach; currently used in practice.     

论信息化对高校校园文化建设的影响

本文从探讨校园文化及信息化的内涵与功能入手,分析了校园文化与信息化之间的关系,具体指出信息化给高校校园文化建设带来的积极与消极的影响,为建设和谐校园文化提供一定的参考,希望对大家有所借鉴。     

高校教师专业发展能力的评价研究——基于柔性协商与ANP集成方法

本文建立了高校教师专业发展能力评价指标体系,引入柔性协商因子,将两方评价主体(校方和教师方)的意见进行综合权衡,进而采用ANP法构建了网络结构模型,并通过运算确定了各项指标的权重,最后进行了应用分析。     

An improved bootstrap test of stochastic dominance

We propose a new method of testing stochastic dominance that improves on existing tests based on the standard bootstrap or subsampling. The method admits prospects involving infinite as well as finite dimensional unknown parameters, so that the variables are allowed to be residuals from nonparametric and semiparametric models. The proposed bootstrap tests have asymptotic sizes that are less than or equal to the nominal level uniformly over probabilities in the null hypothesis under regularity conditions. This paper also characterizes the set of probabilities so that the asymptotic size is exactly equal to the nominal level uniformly. As our simulation results show, these characteristics of our tests lead to an improved power property in general. The improvement stems from the design of the bootstrap test whose limiting behavior mimics the discontinuity of the original test’s limiting distribution.     

大型工程类科研院所技术增加值考核应用研究

我国工程类科研院所每年在专利、科技成果、论文等方面成绩显著,但最终转化为产品的不多,结果是浪费了大量的科技资源,究其原因是考核导向不对,很多科研院所片面的追求专利、科技成果、论文的数量考核,对质量考核关注的还不够。该文分析了我国工程科研院所的考核现状,在借鉴前人研究成果的基础上,提出了工程类科研院所应采用技术增加值考核。同时,结合某科研院所的年终实际考核情况,给出了技术增加值的具体考核方法,指出引入技术增加值考核有利于科技成果的转化。     

系统思考理论在部队装备管理信息化建设中的应用

系统思考是一种有效地解决复杂性问题的崭新思维模式和科学方法。部队装备管理信息化建设是当前我军装备管理领域着力进行的一项系统工程,以系统思考理论为指导,对于科学认识和指导部队装备管理信息化建设具有重要意义。从系统思考的基本理论着手,分析了系统思考在部队装备管理信息化建设中的重要作用,并在系统思考理论的指导下提出了有助于部队装备管理信息化建设的建议,为科学推动部队装备管理信息化建设提供参考。     

在物流管理专业课教学中实施“做中学”的实践与探索

本文主要结合国内物流管理专业所存在的问题进行探讨,而"做中学"为理论与实践相结合的典型形式,本文则围绕于此提出建议。     

浅水位软土地基常用的挡土围护结构

结合浅水位软土地基常用的挡土围护结构类型,介绍其在施工中的应用,总结比较其适用条件和优缺点。     

欧盟嵌入式智能系统联合开发的知识产权政策评鉴

在工业化与信息化融合的不断推进中,以信息技术为核心的计算机软硬件飞速发展引发信息产业的飞跃,其中嵌入式智能系统(包括软件和硬件)的产业化将成为实现工业化与信息化融合的重要纽带和突破口。欧盟通过建立"联合创新平台"来推动嵌入式智能系统开发和应用,并对联合创新成果的归属、许可、保护、传播、分配、转让制定专门的知识产权政策,确保项目推进。欧盟的知识产权政策将为我国在新型信息技术领域知识产权战略的确立、知识产权管理机制的创新和知识产权法律制度的完善提供借鉴意义。