Assessing the value of demand sharing in supply chains

We consider the problem of assessing the value of demand sharing in a multistage supply chain in which the retailer observes stationary autoregressive moving average demand with Gaussian white noise (shocks). Similar to previous research, we assume each supply chain player constructs its best linear forecast of the leadtime demand and uses it to determine the order quantity via a periodic review myopic order‐up‐to policy. We demonstrate how a typical supply chain player can determine the extent of its available information in the presence of demand sharing by studying the properties of the moving average polynomials of adjacent supply chain players. The retailer's demand is driven by the random shocks appearing in the autoregressive moving average representation for its demand. Under the assumptions we will make in this article, to the retailer, knowing the shock information is equivalent to knowing the demand process (assuming that the model parameters are also known). Thus (in the event of sharing) the retailer's demand sequence and shock sequence would contain the same information to the retailer's supplier. We will show that, once we consider the dynamics of demand propagation further up the chain, it may be that a player's demand and shock sequences will contain different levels of information for an upstream player. Hence, we study how a player can determine its available information under demand sharing, and use this information to forecast leadtime demand. We characterize the value of demand sharing for a typical supply chain player. Furthermore, we show conditions under which (i) it is equivalent to no sharing, (ii) it is equivalent to full information shock sharing, and (iii) it is intermediate in value to the two previously described arrangements. Although it follows from existing literature that demand sharing is equivalent to full information shock sharing between a retailer and supplier, we demonstrate and characterize when this result does not generalize to upstream supply chain players. We then show that demand propagates through a supply chain where any player may share nothing, its demand, or its full information shocks (FIS) with an adjacent upstream player as quasi‐ARMA in—quasi‐ARMA out. We also provide a convenient form for the propagation of demand in a supply chain that will lend itself to future research applications. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Naval Research Logistics 61: 515–531, 2014     

航空时敏制导炸弹增程弹道组合优化设计

为增强航空时敏制导炸弹在中制导段的滑翔能力,将极小值原理与自适应进化粒子群算法相结合,提出了一种适用于航空时敏制导炸弹增程弹道的组合优化设计方法。基于纵向平面内质心运动模型,推导了性能指标泛函及各不等式约束函数。引入Lagrange乘子矢量并建立相应的Hamilton函数实现无约束泛函极值问题的转换,推导出兼顾各优化目标函数的满意优化模型。利用自适应进化粒子群算法对该段增程弹道进行了攻角与弹翼张合档位双设计变量的组合优化。数值仿真算例表明,在满足状态方程约束的条件下,双变量的增程效果比常规单变量控制时显著提高,其优化结果可为制导炸弹弹道规划设计的研究提供一定的理论参考。     

Demobilisation,disarmament and reintegration in the Democratic Republic of Congo: The numbers game

Abstract

The creation of the Africa Command (AFRICOM) has reflected the growth in the strategic importance of Africa in US foreign policy since the end of the 1990s. One of the objectives of this new geographical military command is to forge closer links between foreign, security and development policies. However, this approach met with a number of difficulties associated with the challenge of ‘inter-agency cooperation’ among rather disparate actors from foreign affairs, defence and development. In addition, the establishment of AFRICOM has met with fierce criticism in the US and elsewhere – especially in Africa – culminating in the charge that the US foreign and development policies in Africa are being militarised. Although AFRICOM has a number of interesting features, this paper shows that it has reacted to these criticisms by realigning itself more closely with the traditional model of a military command, at the expense of the innovative interagency elements.     

Japan's plutonium policy: Consequences for nonproliferation

ABSTRACT

What do we mean by nuclear proliferation? What does it mean to proliferate? This article investigates both the literal and figurative meaning of the term “proliferation.” It argues that many of the definitions and conceptualizations of nuclear proliferation often used by scholars are either limited in their utility or logically inconsistent. It then reconceptualizes and redefines the term, incorporating an understanding of both its etymological origins and the geopolitical context in which the phenomenon occurs. It concludes by exploring the potential impact that the politicization of the phenomenon may have on the identification of occurrences of proliferation, from both an academic and a policy-making perspective.     

基于粒子群优化的模糊交通控制器设计

城市中存在着一些关键路口,其交通通畅与否会对周围路网的交通流起着很大的影响,这些路口需要优先保持通畅.针对此情况,设计了基于上下游交通信息的二级模糊交通控制器来对路网进行协调控制.在此基础上,提出了针对交通特性改进的粒子群优化算法（TIPSO）,并采用TIPSO对第一级模糊规则进行优化,实验结果表明TIPSO对模糊规则具有较好的优化效果,能够离线训练,获取到比人工设定的更优的模糊规则.     

Limiting behavior of the stochastic sequential assignment problem

The stochastic sequential assignment problem (SSAP) considers how to allocate available distinct workers to sequentially arriving tasks with stochastic parameters such that the expected total reward obtained from the sequential assignments is maximized. Implementing the optimal assignment policy for the SSAP involves calculating a new set of breakpoints upon the arrival of each task (i.e., for every time period), which is impractical for large‐scale problems. This article studies two problems that are concerned with obtaining stationary policies, which achieve the optimal expected reward per task as the number of tasks approaches infinity. The first problem considers independent and identically distributed (IID) tasks with a known distribution function, whereas in the second problem tasks are derived from r different unobservable distributions governed by an ergodic Markov chain. The convergence rate of the expected reward per task to the optimal value is also obtained for both problems. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Naval Research Logistics, 2013     

特定m维修策略更新过程系统可用度模型

将武器装备系统的组成部分分为3类,通过分析得出适合装备系统的特定m维修策略,能够在保证装备较高使用可用度的同时,最大程度地缩减维修保障成本.利用更新过程某些特性,建立特定m维修策略下的使用可用度模型,简化了使用可用度的计算.     

某小型武器稳定系统的建模及仿真

针对某小型武器稳定系统稳定精度差的问题,构建了其控制系统的数学模型,通过仿真施加试验台架扰动信号,对现系统采用的传统PID控制器进行仿真计算,得到其动态稳定精度,并把得到的和定型试验稳定精度数据对应的外扰模拟信号作为改造后系统的标准扰动输入,对线性自抗扰控制器进行了比对仿真研究.仿真结果表明,系统采用线性自抗扰控制器具有响应速度快、稳定精度高、抗扰能力强的优点.这一方法得到的仿真结果和实车具有较高一致性,可以有效解决实车参数调试困难的问题.     

改进的粒子群神经网络在飞控中的应用

针对BP神经网络对初始值敏感、容易陷入局部寻优且收敛速度较慢,提出用粒子群对神经网络的参数进行优化,同时设计了衰减的指数函数对惯性权重进行动态调整以提高算法性能.并应用该算法对导弹飞控系统的逆误差进行补偿,仿真结果表明,该方法对逆误差进行了有效的补偿,避免了局部寻优并提高了学习效率.     

一种基于多目标微粒群优化的虚拟网络映射方法

针对多个虚拟网络同时映射时资源统一优化分配的问题,提出了一种基于多目标微粒群优化的虚拟网络映射方法(MSC-VNE),提高底层网络资源利用率及全局负载均衡性能。建立了虚拟网络映射的多目标优化模型,将单个虚拟网络映射作为一个子群,并采用多子群协作优化的方法在子群映射时通过相互信息交换进行协同进化,最终达到全局资源的优化分配。仿真结果表明,与典型成果相比,提出的方法有效地提高了底层网络资源利用率和虚拟网络构建成功率。