Markovian approximation for manufacturing systems of unreliable machines in tandem

This paper studies production planning of manufacturing systems of unreliable machines in tandem. The manufacturing system considered here produces one type of product. The demand is assumed to be a Poisson process and the processing time for one unit of product in each machine is exponentially distributed. A broken machine is subject to a sequence of repairing processes. The up time and the repairing time in each phase are assumed to be exponentially distributed. We study the manufacturing system by considering each machine as an individual system with stochastic supply and demand. The Markov Modulated Poisson Process (MMPP) is applied to model the process of supply. Numerical examples are given to demonstrate the accuracy of the proposed method. We employ (s, S) policy as production control. Fast algorithms are presented to solve the average running costs of the machine system for a given (s, S) policy and hence the approximated optimal (s, S) policy. © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Naval Research Logistics 48: 65–78, 2001     

The crisis of American military assistance: strategic dithering and Fabergé Egg armies

ABSTRACT

The United States has provided substantial amounts of military assistance and aid since the end of World War Two. During the Cold War, it proved vital in protecting numerous regimes from communist takeovers. Successful outcomes occurred when American leaders made large initial aid commitments, and the states had the capacity and political willpower to use it effectively. However, Vietnam was an example of how U.S. support lagged, as leaders in Saigon preferred political survival instead of creating regime legitimacy. Following 9/11, American security aid focused on making weak countries develop stronger security forces. Unfortunately, this created Fabergé egg militaries: expensive and easily broken by insurgents. This article suggests long-term strategic commitments need to be made alongside more resources for the American State Department and similar organizations to focus on the politics of state-building. Finally, this article suggests strategies, such as “whole-of-government” approaches, to improve long-term security and political institution building.     

Optimal pricing and inventory control policy in periodic‐review systems with fixed ordering cost and lost sales

This paper studies a periodic‐review pricing and inventory control problem for a retailer, which faces stochastic price‐sensitive demand, under quite general modeling assumptions. Any unsatisfied demand is lost, and any leftover inventory at the end of the finite selling horizon has a salvage value. The cost component for the retailer includes holding, shortage, and both variable and fixed ordering costs. The retailer's objective is to maximize its discounted expected profit over the selling horizon by dynamically deciding on the optimal pricing and replenishment policy for each period. We show that, under a mild assumption on the additive demand function, at the beginning of each period an (s,S) policy is optimal for replenishment, and the value of the optimal price depends on the inventory level after the replenishment decision has been done. Our numerical study also suggests that for a sufficiently long selling horizon, the optimal policy is almost stationary. Furthermore, the fixed ordering cost (K) plays a significant role in our modeling framework. Specifically, any increase in K results in lower s and higher S. On the other hand, the profit impact of dynamically changing the retail price, contrasted with a single fixed price throughout the selling horizon, also increases with K. We demonstrate that using the optimal policy values from a model with backordering of unmet demands as approximations in our model might result in significant profit penalty. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Naval Research Logistics, 2006     

Tilting at windmills: The flawed U.S. policy toward the 1971 Indo-Pakistani war

ABSTRACT

This article examines decision-making mistakes made by U.S. President Nixon and national security advisor Kissinger during the 1971 India-Pakistan crisis and war. It shows that Nixon and Kissinger routinely demonstrated psychological biases that led them to overestimate the likelihood of West Pakistani victory against Bengali rebels as well as the importance of the crisis to broader U.S. policy. The evidence fails to support Nixon and Kissinger’s own framing of the 1971 crisis as a contest between cool-headed realpolitik and idealistic humanitarianism, and instead shows that Kissinger and Nixon’s policy decisions harmed their stated goals because of repeated decision-making errors.     

广义S变换和阈值分割联合抗频谱扩展-压缩移频干扰

根据频谱扩展-压缩(spectrum spread and compression, SSC)移频干扰信号和回波信号时频分布特性的差异,提出一种基于广义S变换和Tsallis交叉熵阈值分割的干扰抑制方法。分析了SSC移频干扰的干扰原理和干扰信号经过解线调后的信号形式,并利用时频聚焦性较好的广义S变换获取接收信号经过解线调后的时频图像,根据时频图像对应的灰度图像,以Tsallis交叉熵最小化作为目标函数,求出灰度图像的最佳分割阈值,并根据分割阈值构建时频滤波器,实现干扰抑制。仿真结果表明:该方法对于SSC移频干扰产生的假目标具有较好的抑制效果,干扰抑制比可达30 dB以上。     

拓扑度理论之近期发展

这是一篇综述文章,介绍了拓扑度理论近十年来的主要成果。     

稀土配合物热致变色性能研究(VI)—稀土铬天青 S 配合物的热致变色性能

本文研究了BE(Ⅱ)-CAS 水溶液体系热致变色性能;探讨了酸度、温度等条件对体系热致变色性能的影响。实验结果表明该体系在特定条件下具有较明显的热致变色现象,且仅由配合物所产生,其特征是:体系受热时颜色由深色(玫瑰红)变为浅色(黄色);与RE(Ⅲ)-XO,RE(Ⅲ)-SXO 体系的色变趋向相反,达种差异性与螯合物分子的结构特征有关。     

极大单调算子零点的逼近问题

设H为实Hilbert空间,C为H的非空闭凸子集,T:C→2H为极大单调算子,假设S(T)={x∈H:0∈Tx}≠Φ。 xk∈H,βk>0,求 xk及ek满足( )　　xk+ek∈ xk+βkT( xk),‖ek‖≤ηk‖xk- xk‖, k≥0,其中,ηk≥0,supk>0ηk<1,βk≥β>0。设PC:H→C为H到C上的最近点投影算子,定义xk+1=PC( xk-ek),k≥0,证明了若T满足(S)型条件,则{xk}k≥0强收敛于T的某个零点。     

舰载试验指挥控制系统研究与实践

针对靶场海上试验发展的综合需求,对舰载试验指挥控制系统发展的必要性及现状进行了分析,重点从与靶场其它系统的接口关系、系统功能、体系结构及软件设计几方面完成了系统总体设计研究,最后阐述了系统实现过程的关键技术。实践表明,该系统的应用大大提高了海上试验指挥水平。     

Optimal inventory control policy for periodic‐review inventory systems with inventory‐level‐dependent demand

We consider a setting in which inventory plays both promotional and service roles; that is, higher inventories not only improve service levels but also stimulate demand by serving as a promotional tool (e.g., as the result of advertising effect by the enhanced product visibility). Specifically, we study the periodic‐review inventory systems in which the demand in each period is uncertain but increases with the inventory level. We investigate the multiperiod model with normal and expediting orders in each period, that is, any shortage will be met through emergency replenishment. Such a model takes the lost sales model as a special case. For the cases without and with fixed order costs, the optimal inventory replenishment policy is shown to be of the base‐stock type and of the (s,S) type, respectively. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Naval Research Logistics, 2012