Risk‐sensitive sizing of responsive facilities

We develop a risk‐sensitive strategic facility sizing model that makes use of readily obtainable data and addresses both capacity and responsiveness considerations. We focus on facilities whose original size cannot be adjusted over time and limits the total production equipment they can hold, which is added sequentially during a finite planning horizon. The model is parsimonious by design for compatibility with the nature of available data during early planning stages. We model demand via a univariate random variable with arbitrary forecast profiles for equipment expansion, and assume the supporting equipment additions are continuous and decided ex‐post. Under constant absolute risk aversion, operating profits are the closed‐form solution to a nontrivial linear program, thus characterizing the sizing decision via a single first‐order condition. This solution has several desired features, including the optimal facility size being eventually decreasing in forecast uncertainty and decreasing in risk aversion, as well as being generally robust to demand forecast uncertainty and cost errors. We provide structural results and show that ignoring risk considerations can lead to poor facility sizing decisions that deteriorate with increased forecast uncertainty. Existing models ignore risk considerations and assume the facility size can be adjusted over time, effectively shortening the planning horizon. Our main contribution is in addressing the problem that arises when that assumption is relaxed and, as a result, risk sensitivity and the challenges introduced by longer planning horizons and higher uncertainty must be considered. Finally, we derive accurate spreadsheet‐implementable approximations to the optimal solution, which make this model a practical capacity planning tool.© 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Naval Research Logistics, 2008     

The value of information sharing in a two‐stage supply chain with production capacity constraints

We consider a simple two‐stage supply chain with a single retailer facing i.i.d. demand and a single manufacturer with finite production capacity. We analyze the value of information sharing between the retailer and the manufacturer over a finite time horizon. In our model, the manufacturer receives demand information from the retailer even during time periods in which the retailer does not order. To analyze the impact of information sharing, we consider the following three strategies: (1) the retailer does not share demand information with the manufacturer; (2) the retailer does share demand information with the manufacturer and the manufacturer uses the optimal policy to schedule production; (3) the retailer shares demand information with the manufacturer and the manufacturer uses a greedy policy to schedule production. These strategies allow us to study the impact of information sharing on the manufacturer as a function of the production capacity, and the frequency and timing in which demand information is shared. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Naval Research Logistics, 2003     

战术数据链网络设计优化方法

网络设计优化问题直接关系到战术数据链系统效能的发挥。在分析数据链系统中不同消息类别有不同系统响应时间要求的基础上,提出了一种新的网络设计优化方法。通过建立模型讨论了单个数据链轮询网络的轮询周期、网络成员容量、每个轮询周期内各成员的点名次数等因素间的数学关系。并以Link-11为例进行分析计算。结果表明,该分析方法有效可行,为解决战术数据链网络设计及优化问题提供了一种思路。     

基于科学发展观视角下的会计教学改革

随着高等教育的大众化，社会对会计人才需求呈现出多层次的特点，现代会计教育已进入素质教育的新阶段。注重学生创造性思维的培养，注重学生能力与素质的提高应成为各高校今后会计教学改革的方向。本文从科学发展观的视角，在分析了会计本科教学现状的基础上，理性地提出了要实现会计教学培养目标，必须转变教育观念，适应科学发展观的要求，推动会计教学改革。     

Country survey XII: South Africa

This article examines the relationship between defence expenditure and economic performance in South Africa, both prior to and after that country's first fully democratic election in 1994. Prior to 1994 defence expenditure decisions were largely dominated by non‐economic factors; since then defence spending has declined in reaction to, inter alia, the need to address a number of socio‐economic inequities.

After 1975 in particular, military industrialisation in South Africa placed a disproportionately high burden on the country's industrial resources and natural economic and technical capabilities. However, although this suggests that the opportunity cost of domestic arms production has been fairly high, the country's poor economic and development performance since the mid‐1970s is a function of underlying structural deficiencies and institutional constraints rather than the consequence of inordinately high defence spending levels.     

Transformations of node‐balanced routing problems

This article describes a polynomial transformation for a class of unit‐demand vehicle routing problems, named node‐balanced routing problems (BRP), where the number of nodes on each route is restricted to be in an interval such that the workload across the routes is balanced. The transformation is general in that it can be applied to single or multiple depot, homogeneous or heterogeneous fleet BRPs, and any combination thereof. At the heart of the procedure lies transforming the BRP into a generalized traveling salesman problem (TSP), which can then be transformed into a TSP. The transformed graph exhibits special properties which can be exploited to significantly reduce the number of arcs, and used to construct a formulation for the resulting TSP that amounts to no more than that of a constrained assignment problem. Computational results on a number of instances are presented. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Naval Research Logistics 62: 370–387, 2015     

From adversity to prosperity

This article interrogates the continuing relevance of the contractarian governance paradigm to resource governance and the impact of exploitation on the local population and environment in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Zimbabwe and Ghana. It highlights the susceptibilities of their governance processes, particularly the roles of the elites of the host communities, the multinational corporations, and the governing authorities in appropriating resources for their personal interests, resulting in tensions and conflicts. This scenario is borne out of inept leadership, as well as the defective and compromised administrative mechanisms operational in these countries. In view of this, the article underscores the need for a ‘new governance management paradigm’ anchored on a communitarian framework, which incorporates all stakeholders, to guarantee sustainable peace and prosperity, particularly in conflict zones. The article therefore concludes that achieving a nexus between forestry, mining activities and economic development in these countries will require a restructuring of the existing governance mechanisms; and advocates for a new governance model capable of curbing the excesses of local and foreign hegemony, including a total overhaul of the seemingly compromised supervising authority.     

多进制多维信号集信道容量分析及其计算

描述了信道容量的一般概念 ,具体就波形信道 ,连续信道及离散输入连续输出无记忆信道进行了分析 ,分别导出了它们的信道容量公式。结合几种常见的多进制多维调制技术MPSK、MQAM、L正交信号及其星座分析 ,给出了它们信道容量的Monte Carlo模拟以及数值积分模拟 ,同时分析了由于信号集扩展而带来的编码增益     

舰船舵减横摇广义预测约束控制

依据舵减摇状态空间模型,推导舵减横摇广义预测控制律,在舵角舵速约束的条件下,采用二次型规划计算控制量进行减横摇控制.对某一船舶在典型航行工况下进行了系统仿真,仿真结果表明,该方法不但可取得35%～45%的减摇效果,而且对横摇角速度与横摇角加速度也有40%左右的减小效果.     

Stochastic production capacity: A bane or a boon for quick response supply chains?

The quick response (QR) system that can cope with demand volatility by shortening lead time has been well studied in the literature. Much of the existing literature assumes implicitly or explicitly that the manufacturers under QR can always meet the demand because the production capacity is always sufficient. However, when the order comes with a short lead time under QR, availability of the manufacturer's production capacity is not guaranteed. This motivates us to explore QR in supply chains with stochastic production capacity. Specifically, we study QR in a two-echelon supply chain with Bayesian demand information updating. We consider the situation where the manufacturer's production capacity under QR is uncertain. We first explore how stochastic production capacity affects supply chain decisions and QR implementation. We then incorporate the manufacturer's ability to expand capacity into the model. We explore how the manufacturer determines the optimal capacity expansion decision, and the value of such an ability to the supply chain and its agents. Finally, we extend the model to the two-stage two-ordering case and derive the optimal ordering policy by dynamic programming. We compare the single-ordering and two-ordering cases to generate additional managerial insights about how ordering flexibility affects QR when production capacity is stochastic. We also explore the transparent supply chain and find that our main results still hold.