A study on the effect of teleworking on quality of work life

Nowadays teleworking has become a useful technique for business development and improving employees’ quality of life. Many people are now able to stay at home and do their daily job activities without bothering to wear formal closes. This paper presents an empirical investigation to study the effect of teleworking on quality of life using Walton (1976) method [Walton, R. E. (1973). Quality of working life-what is it. Sloan Management Review, 15(1), 11-21.]. The variables of quality of working-life according to Walton Model are: “Adequate and fair compensation”, “Safe and Healthy Working conditions”, “Opportunity for Continued Growth and Security”, “The Social Relevance of Work Life”, “Total Life Space”, “Social Integration in the Work”, “Constitutionalism in the work Organization”, “Human Progress Capabilities”. Using different statistical tests, the study indicate that teleworking had significant positive relationship with Quality of Working-Life components. The study also reports that different personal characteristics such as age, gender had no meaningful impact on teleworking

Joint Determination of Price and Upgrade Level for a Warranted Second-hand Product

An upgrade action is a pre-sale procedure that brings the second-hand item to an improved functional state and effectively reduces its age. This action is usually costly and adds directly to the sale price of the second-hand product, but it improves the product reliability and can reduce the warranty servicing cost. In the present paper, we propose a decision model to determine the optimal price and upgrade strategy of a warranted second-hand product to maximize the dealer's expected profit. The objective function includes both demand and cost functions, where purchase price from an end user, upgrade cost, and warranty cost are involved. We illustrate our finding using real data on second-hand electric device. Also, a sensitivity analysis is conducted to evaluate the effect of model parameters on the optimal solution

Le parlement et la présence politique des femmes en Iran : la loi sur les bourses d'Etat

Le projet de loi concernant l'attribution des bourses d'Etat aux étudiants désirant poursuivre leurs études à l'étranger et plus précisément l'alinéa 1 de son article 3 qui interdisait aux femmes célibataires de bénéficier de cette bourse a montré, par l'ampleur des débats qu'il a suscités et l'éventail de différences mises en évidence, les limites de l'islamisation de la société, mais aussi le rôle que les institutions modernes, tel un parlement élu au suffrage universel, peuvent jouer dans la différenciation inévitable de la société face aux épreuves

A Two-Stage DEA to Analyze the Effect of Entrance Deregulation on Iranian Insurers: A Robust Approach

We use two-stage data envelopment analysis (DEA) model to analyze the effects of entrance deregulation on the efficiency in the Iranian insurance market. In the first stage, we propose a robust optimization approach in order to overcome the sensitivity of DEA results to any uncertainty in the output parameters. Hence, the efficiency of each ongoing insurer is estimated using our proposed robust DEA model. The insurers are then ranked based on their relative efficiency scores for an eight-year period from 2003 to 2010. In the second stage, a comprehensive statistical analysis using generalized estimating equations (GEE) is conducted to analyze some other factors which could possibly affect the efficiency scores. The first results from DEA model indicate a decline in efficiency over the entrance deregulation period while further statistical analysis confirms that the solvency ignorance which is a widespread paradigm among state owned companies is one of the main drivers of efficiency in the Iranian insurance market

Warranty and Sustainable Improvement of Used Products through Remanufacturing

Currently, a large number of used/second-hand products are being sold with remanufacturing. Remanufacturing is a process of bringing used products to a better functional state and can be applied as a way for (1) controlling the deterioration process, (2) reducing the likelihood of a failure over the warranty period and (3) making the used item effectively younger. Remanufacturing is relatively a new concept and has received very limited attention. In this paper, we develop an important sustainable improvement approach for used items sold with failure free warranty to determine the optimal improvement level. Our model makes a useful contribution to the reliability growth literature, as it captures the uncertainty and suggests improvement in the remanufacturing process. By using this model, the dealers can decide whether and how much to invest in remanufacturing projects

Financial Vulnerability and Stabilization Policy in Commodity Exporting Emerging Economies

This paper develops a new Keynesian DSGE model compatible with the structural characteristics of commodity exporting developing economies (financial vulnerability, relatively high pass-through rates, procyclical fiscal policy, and high terms of trade volatility) to compare the performance of alternative policy regimes, namely flexible domestic inflation targeting, flexible consumer price index inflation targeting, and the real exchange rate targeting. Evaluation of the above alternative policy regimes and relative stability of key macroeconomic variables are conducted through an optimal Ramsey policy method. The policy evaluation results based both on stabilization and welfare measures obtained for the case of Iran imply that for the developing commodity (oil) exporting economies stabilization with a broader inflation targeting framework in which the real exchange rate is also targeted is the superior policy regime. Optimality of the alternative policy regimes and their rank are sensitive to the degree of financial vulnerability. Financial vulnerability in this model explains why departure from floating exchange rate in an inflation targeting framework is the appropriate policy and not merely a “fear”. As the degree of financial development increases sufficiently, the standard flexible inflation targeting becomes the superior policy regime. A policy rule to weaken procyclicality of fiscal policy further enhances the welfare performance of this regime

Financial Vulnerability and Stabilization Policy in Commodity Exporting Emerging Economies

This paper develops a new Keynesian DSGE model compatible with the structural characteristics of commodity exporting developing economies (financial vulnerability, relatively high pass-through rates, procyclical fiscal policy, and high terms of trade volatility) to compare the performance of alternative policy regimes, namely flexible domestic inflation targeting, flexible consumer price index inflation targeting, and the real exchange rate targeting. Evaluation of the above alternative policy regimes and relative stability of key macroeconomic variables are conducted through an optimal Ramsey policy method. The policy evaluation results based both on stabilization and welfare measures obtained for the case of Iran imply that for the developing commodity (oil) exporting economies stabilization with a broader inflation targeting framework in which the real exchange rate is also targeted is the superior policy regime. Optimality of the alternative policy regimes and their rank are sensitive to the degree of financial vulnerability. Financial vulnerability in this model explains why departure from floating exchange rate in an inflation targeting framework is the appropriate policy and not merely a “fear”. As the degree of financial development increases sufficiently, the standard flexible inflation targeting becomes the superior policy regime. A policy rule to weaken procyclicality of fiscal policy further enhances the welfare performance of this regime

Oil Price Cycles, Fiscal Dominance and Counter-cyclical Monetary Policy in Iran

Impulse for business cycles in Iran are largely generated from oil price (terms of trade) shocks and propagated through fiscal policies. The classic mission of monetary policy is to conduct countercyclical policy, however, this is not a universal norm. Pro-cyclical fiscal and monetary policies during boom periods has been observed in a number of developing countries. Such policies tend to amplify the impact of positive oil price (terms of trade) shocks through aggregated demand expansion. The consequence has been strengthening of domestic inflationary pressures and appreciation of the real exchange rate. This paper attempts to examine if monetary policy in Iran is countercyclical and what is the impact of fiscal policy in this regard. It will be argued that the stance of fiscal policy and how government expenditures are financed can have a significant effect on how monetary policy is conducted. Our empirical observations regarding the experience of the Iranian economy indicates that, in a fiscally dominated structure, fiscal and monetary policies are generally expansionary, particularly during economic booms. This entails subsequent very large managed depreciation of the exchange rate, higher inflation rates, and an economic downturn. Under fiscal dominance monetary policy will be ineffective and both targets and instruments of monetary policy making will not be under the control of monetary authority. The policy package of a structural balanced fiscal rule combined with smoothing of quasi-fiscal operations is the appropriate policy measure that enhances the ability of central bank to conduct more effective countercyclical monetary policies

R. Sadeghian*

Abstract Although knowing the time of the occurrence of the earthquakes is vital and helpful, unfortunately it is still unpredictable. By the way there is an urgent need to find a method to foresee this catastrophic event. There are a lot of methods for forecasting the time of earthquake occurrence. Another method for predicting that is to know probability density function of time interval between earthquakes. In this paper a new probability density function (PDF) for the time interval between earthquakes is found out. The parameters of the PDF will be estimated, and ultimately, the PDF will be tested by the earthquakes data about Iran

Designing a Supply Chain Network under the Risk of Disruptions

This paper studies a supply chain design problem with the risk of disruptions at facilities. At any point of time, the facilities are subject to various types of disruptions caused by natural disasters, man-made defections, and equipment breakdowns. We formulate the problem as a mixed-integer nonlinear program which maximizes the total profit for the whole system. The model simultaneously determines the number and location of facilities, the subset of customers to serve, the assignment of customers to facilities, and the cycle-order quantities at facilities. In order to obtain near-optimal solutions with reasonable computational requirements for large problem instances, two solution methods based on Lagrangian relaxation and genetic algorithm are developed. The effectiveness of the proposed solution approaches is shown using numerical experiments. The computational results, in addition, demonstrate that the benefits of considering disruptions in the supply chain design model can be significant