Contracts and coordination: Supply chains with uncertain demand and supply

Considering a supply chain with a supplier subject to yield uncertainty selling to a retailer facing stochastic demand, we find that commonly studied classical coordination contracts fail to coordinate both the supplier's production and the retailer's procurement decisions and achieve efficient performance. First, we study the vendor managed inventory (VMI) partnership. We find that a consignment VMI partnership coupled with a production cost subsidy achieves perfect coordination and a win‐win outcome; it is simple to implement and arbitrarily allocates total channel profit. The production cost subsidy optimally chosen through Nash bargaining analysis depends on the bargaining power of the supplier and the retailer. Further, motivated by the practice that sometimes the retailer and the supplier can arrange a “late order,” we also analyze the behavior of an advance‐purchase discount (APD) contract. We find that an APD with a revenue sharing contract can efficiently coordinate the supply chain as well as achieve flexible profit allocation. Finally, we explore which coordination contract works better for the supplier vs. the retailer. It is interesting to observe that Nash bargaining solutions for the two coordination contracts are equivalent. We further provide recommendations on the applications of these contracts. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Naval Research Logistics 63: 305–319, 2016     

Technical note: Finite-time regret analysis of Kiefer-Wolfowitz stochastic approximation algorithm and nonparametric multi-product dynamic pricing with unknown demand

We consider the problem of nonparametric multi-product dynamic pricing with unknown demand and show that the problem may be formulated as an online model-free stochastic program, which can be solved by the classical Kiefer-Wolfowitz stochastic approximation (KWSA) algorithm. We prove that the expected cumulative regret of the KWSA algorithm is bounded above by where κ₁, κ₂ are positive constants and T is the number of periods for any T = 1, 2, … . Therefore, the regret of the KWSA algorithm grows in the order of , which achieves the lower bounds known for parametric dynamic pricing problems and shows that the nonparametric problems are not necessarily more difficult to solve than the parametric ones. Numerical experiments further demonstrate the effectiveness and efficiency of our proposed KW pricing policy by comparing with some pricing policies in the literature.     

A multi‐stage stochastic programming approach for network capacity expansion with multiple sources of capacity

In networks, there are often more than one sources of capacity. The capacities can be permanently or temporarily owned by the decision maker. Depending on the nature of sources, we identify the permanent capacity, spot market capacity, and contract capacity. We use a scenario tree to model the uncertainty, and build a multi‐stage stochastic integer program that can incorporate multiple sources and multiple types of capacities in a general network. We propose two solution methodologies for the problem. Firstly, we design an asymptotically convergent approximation algorithm. Secondly, we design a cutting plane algorithm based on Benders decomposition to find tight bounds for the problem. The numerical experiments show superb performance of the proposed algorithms compared with commercial software. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Naval Research Logistics 63: 600–614, 2017     

Integrating decisions with advance supply information in an assemble-to-order system

We study a periodic-review assemble-to-order (ATO) system with multiple components and multiple products, in which the inventory replenishment for each component follows an independent base-stock policy and stochastic product demands are satisfied according to a First-Come-First-Served rule. We assume that the replenishment for various component suffers from lead time uncertainty. However, the decision maker has the so-called advance supply information (ASI) associated with the lead times and thus can take advantage of the information for system optimization. We propose a multistage stochastic integer program that incorporates ASI to address the joint optimization of inventory replenishment and component allocation. The optimal base-stock policy for the inventory replenishment is determined using the sample average approximation algorithm. Also, we provide a modified order-based component allocation (MOBCA) heuristic for the component allocation. We additionally consider a special case of the variable lead times where the resulting two-stage stochastic programming model can be characterized as a single-scenario case of the proposed multistage model. We carry out extensive computational studies to quantify the benefits of integrating ASI into joint optimization and to explore the possibility of employing the two-stage model as a relatively efficient approximation scheme for the multistage model.     

关于半鞅向量随机积分的两个结果

首先利用半鞅Girsanov定理与闭图像定理证明了:若{Xn}是带滤基的完备概率空间(Ω,F,F,P)中的一列半鞅,其中滤基F=(Ft)t≥0满足通常条件,且{Xn}在关于P的Emery拓扑空间中收敛于X,则当概率测度Q相似文献   

增强材料芳纶纤维在减振降噪橡胶制品中的应用

论述了橡胶制品用骨架材料芳纶纤维的发展、结构及其性能,并结合橡胶减振消声制品的发展,阐述了芳纶纤维在该类产品中的潜在应用前景.     

非均匀湍流场中螺旋桨噪声研究

针对螺旋桨在湍流中的非定常噪声问题，在均匀湍流下螺旋桨宽频噪声相关性法的基础上，推导了非均匀湍流下螺旋桨宽频噪声的公式。在均匀湍流的研究中使用了十桨叶螺旋桨模型，并将计算结果与试验数据进行了对比，发现吻合较好。对于非均匀湍流中的问题，研究发现湍流的不均匀程度不会对宽频谱波峰的位置产生影响，噪声谱波峰的位置仍然取决于叶频，湍流的不均匀程度只会改变叶频处的波峰高度。最后研究了均匀湍流和非均匀湍流中侧斜角对螺旋桨噪声的影响，发现桨叶侧斜角的存在会降低螺旋桨在湍流中受到的宽频噪声。     

小波分析在混沌信号识别中的应用研究

通过分析混沌信号和噪声信号的频谱特性以及小波变换对两种信号的作用结果的差异,论证了小波变换是一种有效的去除混沌信号中噪声成分的方法.通过数值仿真研究,证明了小波方法的有效性.最后给出了实验结果.     

适用于北斗混合星座的相对定位随机模型建模策略

为提高模糊度解算成功率和基线解精度,提出适用于北斗的相对定位随机模型建模策略,即混合随机建模策略。采用最小二乘方差分量估计方法对北斗单差观测量方差进行估计。对处于不同高度的三轨道卫星观测量方差分别建模:对地球静止轨道卫星观测量方差采用载噪比模型建模,对倾斜地球同步轨道卫星和中地球轨道卫星观测量方差均采用仰角模型建模。根据不同模型实时组建观测量的随机模型。试验结果表明:相比于采用传统简化模型和单一的仰角或载噪比模型,混合随机模型能更加真实地反映不同卫星观测量的随机噪声特性,模糊度解算成功率和相对定位精度均有提高,总体性能最优,因而能更好地适用于北斗系统。     

Application of Markov renewal theory and semi-Markov decision processes in maintenance modeling and optimization of multi-unit systems

In this paper, a condition-based maintenance model for a multi-unit production system is proposed and analyzed using Markov renewal theory. The units of the system are subject to gradual deterioration, and the gradual deterioration process of each unit is described by a three-state continuous time homogeneous Markov chain with two working states and a failure state. The production rate of the system is influenced by the deterioration process and the demand is constant. The states of the units are observable through regular inspections and the decision to perform maintenance depends on the number of units in each state. The objective is to obtain the steady-state characteristics and the formula for the long-run average cost for the controlled system. The optimal policy is obtained using a dynamic programming algorithm. The result is validated using a semi-Markov decision process formulation and the policy iteration algorithm. Moreover, an analytical expression is obtained for the calculation of the mean time to initiate maintenance using the first passage time theory.