Steady‐state diffusion approximations for discrete‐time queue in hospital inpatient flow management

In this article, we analyze a discrete‐time queue that is motivated from studying hospital inpatient flow management, where the customer count process captures the midnight inpatient census. The stationary distribution of the customer count has no explicit form and is difficult to compute in certain parameter regimes. Using the Stein's method framework, we identify a continuous random variable to approximate the steady‐state customer count. The continuous random variable corresponds to the stationary distribution of a diffusion process with state‐dependent diffusion coefficients. We characterize the error bounds of this approximation under a variety of system load conditions—from lightly loaded to heavily loaded. We also identify the critical role that the service rate plays in the convergence rate of the error bounds. We perform extensive numerical experiments to support the theoretical findings and to demonstrate the approximation quality. In particular, we show that our approximation performs better than those based on constant diffusion coefficients when the number of servers is small, which is relevant to decision making in a single hospital ward.     

An exact analysis of a joint production‐inventory problem in two‐echelon inventory systems

We consider a two‐echelon inventory system with a manufacturer operating from a warehouse supplying multiple distribution centers (DCs) that satisfy the demand originating from multiple sources. The manufacturer has a finite production capacity and production times are stochastic. Demand from each source follows an independent Poisson process. We assume that the transportation times between the warehouse and DCs may be positive which may require keeping inventory at both the warehouse and DCs. Inventory in both echelons is managed using the base‐stock policy. Each demand source can procure the product from one or more DCs, each incurring a different fulfilment cost. The objective is to determine the optimal base‐stock levels at the warehouse and DCs as well as the assignment of the demand sources to the DCs so that the sum of inventory holding, backlog, and transportation costs is minimized. We obtain a simple equation for finding the optimal base‐stock level at each DC and an upper bound for the optimal base‐stock level at the warehouse. We demonstrate several managerial insights including that the demand from each source is optimally fulfilled entirely from a single distribution center, and as the system's utilization approaches 1, the optimal base‐stock level increases in the transportation time at a rate equal to the demand rate arriving at the DC. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Naval Research Logistics, 2011     

Approximation methods for the analysis of a multicomponent,multiproduct assemble‐to‐order system

In this article, we consider the performance evaluation of a multicomponent, multiproduct assemble‐to‐order (ATO) system. Each component is managed independently using a base‐stock policy at a supply facility with limited production capacity and an infinite buffer. The arrivals of demands follow a multivariate Poisson process and unfilled demands are backlogged. Because exact analysis of the proposed system is not feasible, we propose two approximation methods which provide upper and lower bounds for various performance measures such as fill rate, average waiting time, and average number of backorders of the proposed system. Our computational experiments demonstrate the effectiveness of the two approximation methods under various system settings. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Naval Research Logistics, 2011     

Multi‐period maintenance scheduling of tree networks with minimum flow disruption

We introduce a multi‐period tree network maintenance scheduling model and investigate the effect of maintenance capacity restrictions on traffic/information flow interruptions. Network maintenance refers to activities that are performed to keep a network operational. For linear networks with uniform flow between every pair of nodes, we devise a polynomial‐time combinatorial algorithm that minimizes flow disruption. The spiral structure of the optimal maintenance schedule sheds insights into general network maintenance scheduling. The maintenance problem on linear networks with a general flow structure is strongly NP‐hard. We formulate this problem as a linear integer program, derive strong valid inequalities, and conduct a polyhedral study of the formulation. Polyhedral analysis shows that the relaxation of our linear network formulation is tight when capacities and flows are uniform. The linear network formulation is then extended to an integer program for solving the tree network maintenance scheduling problem. Preliminary computations indicate that the strengthened formulations can solve reasonably sized problems on tree networks and that the intuitions gained from the uniform flow case continue to hold in general settings. Finally, we extend the approach to directed networks and to maintenance of network nodes. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Naval Research Logistics, 2011     

Cyclic scheduling in robotic flowshops with bounded work‐in‐process levels

This study addresses cyclic scheduling in robotic flowshops with bounded work‐in‐process (WIP) levels. The objective is to minimize the cycle time or, equivalently, to maximize the throughput, under the condition that the WIP level is bounded from above by a given integer number. We present several strongly polynomial algorithms for the 2‐cyclic robotic flowshop scheduling problems for various WIP levels. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Naval Research Logistics 58: 1–16, 2011     

The impact of component commonality on composite assembly policies

Assemble in Advance (AIA) policy reduces assembly cost due to advance planning, while Assemble to Order (ATO) policy eliminates assembly of excessive (more than demanded) units. The tradeoffs between the two policies have been studied in the past for single product environments. Moreover, it was shown that it is beneficial to employ AIA and ATO simultaneously. In this article, we study the employment of such a composite assembly policy in a multiproduct environment with component commonality. When common components are used, ATO may also enable us to benefit from the risk pooling effect. We provide important managerial insights such as: the multiperiod problem is myopic and changes in inventory levels due to the use of common components, and demonstrate the potential profit increase compared to other policies.© 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Naval Research Logistics, 2007     

Optimal burn‐in procedure for periodically inspected systems

Burn‐in is a widely used method to improve the quality of products or systems after they have been produced. In this paper, we study burn‐in procedure for a system that is maintained under periodic inspection and perfect repair policy. Assuming that the underlying lifetime distribution of a system has an initially decreasing and/or eventually increasing failure rate function, we derive upper and lower bounds for the optimal burn‐in time, which maximizes the system availability. Furthermore, adopting an age replacement policy, we derive upper and lower bounds for the optimal age parameter of the replacement policy for each fixed burn‐in time and a uniform upper bound for the optimal burn‐in time given the age replacement policy. These results can be used to reduce the numerical work for determining both optimal burn‐in time and optimal replacement policy. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Naval Research Logistics, 2007     

Modeling and analysis of a mixed‐model assembly line with stochastic operation times

We consider a mixed‐model assembly line (MMAL) comprised a set of workstations and a conveyor. The workstations are arranged in a serial configuration. The conveyor moves at a constant speed along the workstations. Initial units belonging to different models are successively fed onto the conveyor, and they are moved by the conveyor to pass through the workstations to gradually generate final products. All assembling tasks are manually performed with operation times to be stochastic. An important performance measure of MMALs is overload times that refer to uncompleted operations for operators within their work zones. This paper establishes a method to analyze the expected overload times for MMALs with stochastic operation times. The operation processes of operators form discrete time nonhomogeneous Markov processes with continuous state spaces. For a given daily production schedule, the expected overload times involve in analyzing the Markov processes for finite horizon. Based on some important properties of the performance measure, we propose an efficient approach for calculating the expected overload times. Numerical computations show that the results are very satisfactory. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Naval Research Logistics, 2007     

Technical note: Worst‐case performance of power‐of‐two policies for serial inventory systems with incremental quantity discounts

This study presents power‐of‐two policies for a serial inventory system with constant demand rate and incremental quantity discounts at the most upstream stage. It is shown that an optimal solution is nested and follows a zero‐inventory ordering policy. To prove the effectiveness of power‐of‐two policies, a lower bound on the optimal cost is obtained. A policy that has a cost within 6% of the lower bound is developed for a fixed base planning period. For a variable base planning period, a 98% effective policy is provided. An extension is included for a system with price dependent holding costs. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Naval Research Logistics, 2007     

“法条竞合”若干问题研究

"法条竞合"在我国刑事立法中普遍存在,其理论比较复杂.法条竞合的概念与种类、法律性质以及法条竞合的适用原则等问题,目前在我国刑法理论界尚无统一定论.理论上对这些问题进行深入研究、探讨,有助于在司法实践中准确选择适用法条.