Emergency transshipment in decentralized dealer networks: When to send and accept transshipment requests

While there has been significant previous literature on inventory transshipment, most research has focused on the dealers' demand filling decision (when to fill transshipment requests from other dealers), ignoring the requesting decision (when to send transshipment requests to other dealers). In this paper we develop optimal inventory transshipment policies that incorporate both types of decisions. We consider a decentralized system in which the dealers are independent of the manufacturer and of each other. We first study a network consisting of a very large number of dealers. We prove that the optimal inventory and transshipment decisions for an individual dealer are controlled by threshold rationing and requesting levels. Then, in order to study the impact of transshipment among independent dealers in a smaller dealer network, we consider a decentralized two‐dealer network and use a game theoretic approach to characterize the equilibrium inventory strategies of the individual dealers. An extensive numerical study highlights the impact of the requesting decision on the dealers' equilibrium behavior in a decentralized setting. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Naval Research Logistics, 2006     

Optimal maintenance policies for serial,multi‐machine systems with non‐instantaneous repairs

We study optimal age‐replacement policies for machines in series with non‐instantaneous repair times by formulating two nonlinear programs: one that minimizes total cost‐rate subject to a steady‐state throughput requirement and another that maximizes steady‐state throughput subject to a cost‐rate budget constraint. Under reasonable assumptions, the single‐machine cost‐optimal and throughput‐optimal solutions are unique and orderable, and the multi‐machine optimal solutions have appealing structure. Furthermore, we establish equivalence between the two formulations and provide an illustrative numerical example. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Naval Research Logistics, 2006     

新型驱护舰编队舰空导弹防御体系射击效能研究

针对新型驱护舰编队舰空导弹防御体系射击效能评估这一难题,对其射击效能准则进行了确立,提出了基于排队论的射击效能评估模型,对体系射击效能进行仿真计算,总结出能对系统射击效能做出准确评估的方法,并利用实例对模型进行了验证。     

舰载防空导弹系统的防御能力评估

反舰导弹是当今舰艇及编队面临的主要威胁。为评估反舰导弹攻防能力,以目前世界上防御能力最强的美国航母战斗群为背景,研究采用分层火力配置的航母舰队防御体系对付反舰导弹的有效性。首先分析反舰导弹飞行高度、雷达散射截面及综合效应对防御系统中雷达探测能力的影响,之后应用简化公式,对各类典型舰载对空防御武器的最大拦截距离、拦截次数和拦截效率进行量化分析,对防御反舰导弹能力做出评估。     

空空导弹研究与发展的世纪审视

从回顾国内外空空导弹的研制与发展之路入手,系统地分析了空空导弹系列化发展的成因和特征,并对空空导弹的系列化发展问题提出了一些看法。     

使用目标状态估值器提高空对空射击性能

使用卡尔曼滤波器对机载火控雷达及其它传感器提供的数据进行处理,可以得到空对空射击火力控制需要的目标运动信息.通过动态数字仿真比较了前置计算光学瞄准和使用目标状态估值器两种空空射击的火控算法.在具备机载火控雷达的条件下,使用目标状态估值器能够提高空对空射击性能.     

A stochastic model for burn‐in procedures in accelerated environment

Burn‐in procedure is a manufacturing technique that is intended to eliminate early failures of system or product. Burning‐in a component or system means to subject it to a period of use prior to being used in field. Generally, burn‐in is considered expensive and so the length of burn‐in is typically limited. Thus, burn‐in is most often accomplished in an accelerated environment in order to shorten the burn‐in process. A new failure rate model for an accelerated burn‐in procedure, which incorporates the accelerated ageing process induced by the accelerated environmental stress, is proposed. Under a more general assumption on the shape of failure rate function of products, which includes the traditional bathtub‐shaped failure rate function as a special case, upper bounds for optimal burn‐in time will be derived. A numerical example will also be given for illustration. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Naval Research Logistics, 2006     

Approximation algorithms for minimizing total weighted completion time of orders on identical machines in parallel

We consider the problem of scheduling orders on identical machines in parallel. Each order consists of one or more individual jobs. A job that belongs to an order can be processed by any one of the machines. Multiple machines can process the jobs of an order concurrently. No setup is required if a machine switches over from one job to another. Each order is released at time zero and has a positive weight. Preemptions are not allowed. The completion time of an order is the time at which all jobs of that order have been completed. The objective is to minimize the total weighted completion time of the orders. The problem is NP‐hard for any fixed number (≥2) of machines. Because of this, we focus our attention on two classes of heuristics, which we refer to as sequential two‐phase heuristics and dynamic two‐phase heuristics. We perform a worst case analysis as well as an empirical analysis of nine heuristics. Our analyses enable us to rank these heuristics according to their effectiveness, taking solution quality as well as running time into account. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Naval Research Logistics, 2006     

Transient analysis of Markov models of fault‐tolerant systems with deferred repair using split regenerative randomization

The (standard) randomization method is an attractive alternative for the transient analysis of continuous time Markov models. The main advantages of the method are numerical stability, well‐controlled computation error, and ability to specify the computation error in advance. However, the fact that the method can be computationally very expensive limits its applicability. In this paper, we develop a new method called split regenerative randomization, which, having the same good properties as standard randomization, can be significantly more efficient. The method covers reliability‐like models with a particular but quite general structure and requires the selection of a subset of states and a regenerative state satisfying some conditions. For a class of continuous time Markov models, model class C₂, including typical failure/repair reliability‐like models with exponential failure and repair time distributions and deferred repair, natural selections are available for both the subset of states and the regenerative state and, for those natural selections, theoretical results are available assessing the efficiency of the method in terms of “visible” model characteristics. Those results can be used to anticipate when the method can be expected to be competitive. We illustrate the application of the method using a large class C₂ model and show that for models in that class the method can indeed be significantly more efficient than previously available randomization‐based methods. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Naval Research Logistics, 2006     

WHO IS THE ENEMY?

We examine who benefits when there is a strong leader in place, and who benefits when a situation lacks a proper leader. There are fractious terrorist groups who seek to serve the same people in common cause against a common enemy. The groups compete for rents obtained from the public by engaging in actions against the common enemy. We determine the leadership structure under which each group is better off, as well as the circumstance that the common enemy prefers. We are able to state simple and general conditions for each group and the common enemy to benefit.