A taxation model

A new approach to taxation modeling is considered that takes into account the relationship between the costs of fixed capital and direct labor. The well-known Balatskii model in which the emphasis is put on fixed capital is substantially generalized. The problem of optimizing the total tax rate with respect to a Laffer-type criterion is solved. Statistical data for Ukraine over 2000–2003 are used. __________ Translated from Kibernetika i Sistemnyi Analiz, No. 1, pp. 160–164, January–February 2007.     

Learning Paths to Offshore Outsourcing: From Cost Reduction to Knowledge Seeking

A corporation's offshore outsourcing may be seen as the result of a discrete, strategic decision taken in response to an increasing pressure from worldwide competition. However, empirical evidence of a representative cross-sector sample of international Danish firms indicates that offshore sourcing in low-cost countries is best described as a learning-by-doing process in which the offshore outsourcing of a corporation goes through a sequence of stages towards sourcing for innovation. Initially, a corporation's outsourcing is driven by a desire for cost minimization. Over a period of time the outsourcing experience lessens the cognitive limitations of decision-makers as to the advantages that can be achieved through outsourcing in low-cost countries: the insourcer/vendor may not only offer cost advantages, but also quality improvement and innovation. The quality improvements that offshore outsourcing may bring about evoke a realization in the corporation that even innovative processes can be outsourced.     

Verbal abuse from outsiders versus insiders: Comparing frequency, impact on emotional exhaustion, and the role of emotional labor.

Research on aggression from organizational outsiders (customers, clients or patients) has ignored insider-instigated aggression, and has been limited to employees in emotional labor jobs (e.g., social work and customer services). The authors argue that customer-employee interactions have distinct characteristics from organizational insider interactions, and provide two studies to compare the frequency and strain of verbal abuse from customers, supervisors and coworkers. Furthermore, they assess whether customer verbal abuse is only a critical issue for employees in jobs requiring emotional labor, measured with both O*NET job codes and self-reported display rules. With a national random sample of U.S. employees (n = 2446) and a convenience sample of U.S. employees who have customer contact (n = 121), the authors find that verbal abuse from outsiders (1) occurs more frequently than insider verbal abuse, particularly for those with higher emotional labor requirements, and (2) predicts emotional exhaustion over and above insider verbal abuse, regardless of emotional labor requirements. The authors conclude that better integration of customer aggression and insider aggression research is needed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Strategy models for enabling offshore outsourcing: Russian short-cycle-time software development

Economic factors are driving software development projects onto globally dispersed models, as offshore outsourcing becomes more common. Software development companies in developing economies compete for lucrative, job-creating offshore contracts on the basis of industry maturity, labor skills, technology infrastructure, and government support. Diffusion of technology is a key aspect of each of these determinants of competitiveness. This paper analyzes the development of strategies for the diffusion of short-cycle-time software development into and within Russia. Short-cycle-time development is sometimes called agile development or Internet-speed development and uses a number of techniques to move software quickly into production. These techniques are spreading rapidly among software developers worldwide. The benefits of these techniques are well known and provide a credible explanation for why this rapid diffusion is occurring. This paper explains how these techniques are spreading in a borderless fashion. Using the Kline model of innovation diffusion and the Greiner model of evolution and growth of organizations, we analyze the enablers and barriers to diffusion of short-cycle-time software development techniques in Russia. This analysis reveals a complex interaction of political, economic, and technical elements enabling and inhibiting the development of knowledge that supports the innovation diffusion necessary for companies to compete for offshore contracts. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

基于评估和分工合作并行蚁群机器人路径规划

针对复杂环境中移动机器人的导航中存在的问题,提出了一种适用于机器人路径规划的并行蚁群分工合作算法。该方法由控制中心和独立的运算单元组成,每个运算单元中使用分工合作的蚁群进行计算从而从局部和全局两个方面优化蚁群的路径搜索,并将计算发送给处于控制中心的计算机,控制中心则负责处理每个运算单元发送的阶段性的路径搜索结果并利用评估机制对每个计算机得出的结果做最后的决策。从仿真结果可以看出该算法是有效且可行的。     

安全可验证的行列式云外包计算及其电子交易方案

针对现有的云外包计算协议中服务端可能存在的用户信息被泄露、篡改等问题,提出了一个云环境下的安全、高效、可验证的矩阵行列式外包计算协议。首先,基于矩阵模糊技术构造云外包计算协议,它能够在不需要任何困难性假设的前提下保证用户信息的安全性;其次,通过构造一类特殊的变换矩阵对明文矩阵进行处理,使用户在收到返还结果后,能有效验证所反馈的计算结果是否被篡改,性能分析表明,此协议可以有效提高云外包计算的效率;最后,给出一个行列式外包计算的电子交易框架,能够有效应用于电子商务等领域。     

Paying attention to adult learners online: The pedagogy and politics of community

Our article profiles the evolution of a fully online writing course designed for adult learners in our university's Prior Learning Assessment Program. Based on our own observations and experiences teaching adult learners online, we question if the virtual learning environment presents different challenges and prospects for the adult learner versus the traditional student learner, along with an extension and complication of the more social metaphors of “virtual community.” Moreover, because of the changing demographic from traditional to adult students, we argue that this change also fosters a change in the relationship between teachers and students. In chronicling this relationship, we note problems when the labor of adult education becomes invisible to those supervising online instructors. Because of these “invisible” labor issues, we argue that successful online instruction must include a range of interactions between students and instructors that extend the more public concept of community to better acknowledge the importance of personal, private interaction. Thus, we conclude with a call to rethink our online writing pedagogies to be more flexible to adult learner needs and learning styles, simultaneously recognizing the impact of adult online education on faculty workload.     

与供应商的采购合作关系分析

对与供应商的采购合作关系进行了初步的分析，通过需求分析、选择供应商、正式建立合作关系、实施和加强合作关系4个过程展开，分别对筛选战略、供应管理计划流程、供应商的评估和选择、认证管理等关键问题进行初步分析，旨在使采购工作趋于完美。     

试论大型工业硅电炉设计的关键技术

介绍了工业硅电炉设计中必须注意的几个问题:电炉参数的确定;设备高作业率所需要的控制点;烟罩在工业硅电炉中的重要性,工业硅电炉烟罩的合理设计;提高工业硅电炉电效率的途径等,并对工业硅电炉优秀设计理念进行了总结。     

Managing Global Software Engineering: A Comparative Analysis of Offshore Outsourcing and the Internal Offshoring of Software Development

In this article, the authors compare offshore outsourcing and the internal offshoring of software development. Empirical evidence is presented from a case study conducted in five companies. Based on a detailed literature review, a framework was developed that guided the authors' analysis of the differences in the challenges faced by companies and the patterns of evolution in the practice of software development in each business model.