Customer emotions in service failure and recovery encounters

Emotions play a significant role in the workplace, and considerable attention has been given to the study of employee emotions. Customers also play a central function in organizations, but much less is known about customer emotions. This chapter reviews the growing literature on customer emotions in employee–customer interfaces with a focus on service failure and recovery encounters, where emotions are heightened. It highlights emerging themes and key findings, addresses the measurement, modeling, and management of customer emotions, and identifies future research streams. Attention is given to emotional contagion, relationships between affective and cognitive processes, customer anger, customer rage, and individual differences

Bin Packing with Item Fragmentation

We investigate a variant of the bin packing problem in which items may be fragmented into smaller size pieces called fragments. While there are a few applications to bin packing with item fragmentation, our model of the problem is derived from a scheduling problem present in data over CATV networks. Fragmenting an item is associated with a cost which renders the problem NP-hard. We study two possible cost functions and as a result get two variants of bin packing with item fragmentation. In the first variant, called bin packing with size-increasing fragmentation, we are asked to pack a list of items into a minimum number of unit capacity bins. Each item may be fragmented in which case overhead units are added to the size of every fragment. In the second variant we are asked to pack a list of items into a fixed number of unit capacity bins. Each item has a size and a cost and fragmenting an item increases its cost but does not change its size. The goal is to minimize the total cost. We call this variant bin packing with size-preserving fragmentation

Otimização da aplicação de Fluazifop-P-Butil em pós-emergência na cultura de soja (Glycine max) Optimizing Fluazifop-P-Butyl application on postemergence soybeans (Glycine max)

O objetivo deste trabalho foi avaliar a possibilidade de redução da dosagem e do volume de calda em função do horário de aplicação do herbicida fluazifop-p-butil em pós-emergência na cultura de soja, mantendo-se o controle das plantas daninhas e a seletividade para a cultura. O experimento foi conduzido na área experimental da Fazenda de Ensino e Pesquisa da FCAV/UNESP - Jaboticabal, no ano agrícola 1998/99, na cultura de soja, cultivar FT 2009. O delineamento experimental utilizado foi o de blocos ao acaso com 24 tratamentos, sendo 20 dispostos no esquema fatorial 2 x 2 x 5 e quatro testemunhas. Os fatores testados foram: volume de calda (100 e 200 L de calda/ha); dosagens reduzidas -75,2 e 112,8 g de fluazifop-p-butil/ha (respectivamente a 40 e 60% da dosagem recomendada); e horário de aplicação (5, 9, 13, 17 e 21 horas). As testemunhas foram aplicadas com a dosagem recomendada (188,0 g do fluazifop-p-butil/ha) e com os volumes de 100 e 200 L de calda/ha, no mato (sem controle das plantas daninhas) e "no limpo" (plantas daninhas controladas com enxada manual). As principais espécies de plantas daninhas que emergiram na área experimental foram capim-carrapicho (Cenchrus echinatus), que compunha 60% da comunidade infestante; capim-colchão (Digitaria horizontalis), 10%; e capim-pé-de-galinha (Eleusine indica), 30%. Todas as aplicações do herbicida fluazifop-p-butil, nos horários até as 9 horas e a partir das 17 horas, controlaram eficientemente as três espécies de plantas daninhas e foram seletivas para a cultura de soja. Portanto, o uso do herbicida fluazifop-p-butil pode ser otimizado por meio de reduções na dosagem e no volume de calda em aplicações durante os horários com condições ambientais favoráveis à pulverização.<br>The objective of this study was to evaluate the possibility of reducing spray concentration and volume of Fluazifop-p-butyl applications on postemergence soybeans, while maintaining weed control and growth selectivity. The study was conducted in the experimental area of the Teaching and Research Farm of FCAV/Unesp - Jaboticabal Campus, during the agricultural season of 1998/99, carried out on a crop of soybean cultivar FT 2009. The experimental setup utilized was a randomized block design with 24 treatments, 20 following a factorial scheme 2 x 2 x 5 and 4 control treatments. The factors examined were: spray volume (100 and 200 L ha-1); reduced spray concentration - 75.2 and 112.8 g of fluazifop-p-butyl/ha (40 and 60% of the recommended concentration, respectively); and application schedule (5 A.M., 9 A.M., 1 P.M., 5 P.M. and 9 P.M.). The controls were applications at the recommended concentration (188.0 g fluazifop-p-butyl/ha), using volumes of 100 and 200 L ha-1, and treatments without weed control and weeds controlled with manual hoeing. The main species of weeds that emerged in the experimental area were: Cenchrus echinatus, comprising 60% of the infested sections; Digitaria horizontalis, 10%, and Eleusine indica, 30%. All fluazifop-p-butyl applications made up to 9 A.M. and from 5 P.M. effectively controlled the three species of weeds and provided a selective growth of soybeans. Therefore, the use of fluazifop-p-butyl can be optimized by reducing both the concentration and the volume of the spray for applications times providing favorable conditions for crop dusting