Demand forecasting by temporal aggregation

Demand forecasting performance is subject to the uncertainty underlying the time series an organization is dealing with. There are many approaches that may be used to reduce uncertainty and thus to improve forecasting performance. One intuitively appealing such approach is to aggregate demand in lower‐frequency “time buckets.” The approach under concern is termed to as temporal aggregation, and in this article, we investigate its impact on forecasting performance. We assume that the nonaggregated demand follows either a moving average process of order one or a first‐order autoregressive process and a single exponential smoothing (SES) procedure is used to forecast demand. These demand processes are often encountered in practice and SES is one of the standard estimators used in industry. Theoretical mean‐squared error expressions are derived for the aggregated and nonaggregated demand to contrast the relevant forecasting performances. The theoretical analysis is supported by an extensive numerical investigation and experimentation with an empirical dataset. The results indicate that performance improvements achieved through the aggregation approach are a function of the aggregation level, the smoothing constant, and the process parameters. Valuable insights are offered to practitioners and the article closes with an agenda for further research in this area. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Naval Research Logistics 60: 479–498, 2013     

Some aspects in estimating warranty and post‐warranty repair demands

When customers buy a product, they are often eligible for free repairs for a certain warranty period. In this article, we study some important aspects, which are often overlooked in the literature but are of interest to the manufacturer, in estimating both warranty and post‐warranty repair demands. We consider that the installed base of the product (i.e., the number of units of the product actually in use) varies with time due to both new sales and units being taken out of service. When estimating warranty and post‐warranty repair demands, we explicitly address the fact that customers may not always request repairs for failed units. For the case where the product failure time distribution is exponential, we derive the closed‐form expressions for both types of repair demands of a single unit and of the time‐varying installed base. The insights into some risk‐related quantities are also presented. Furthermore, the proposed model is extended by considering delayed warranty claims that are frequently seen in practice. Numerical examples illustrate that understanding both types of repair demands and the related decision variables is important for managing the obligatory and profitable repair services. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Naval Research Logistics 60: 499–511, 2013     

India's Pursuit Of Ballistic Missile Defense

This article analyzes India's efforts to deploy a Ballistic Missile Program (BMD). The article has three objectives. First, it argues that scientific-bureaucratic factors and India's incapacity to deter Pakistan's use of terrorist proxies have driven its quest for BMD. Second, the article also evaluates the current state of India's two-tiered missile defense shield. In spite of various claims on the part of India's defense science establishment, the paper estimates that India still lacks a deployable BMD system and is still far from developing an effective strategy of deterrence-through-denial. Third, the article analyzes the implications of the development of India's BMD system for nuclear stability in South Asia. The article shows how India's BMD capacities, however limited, have indirectly exacerbated the security concerns of India's regional rival, Pakistan.     

The Demand for Military Spending in Egypt

Egypt plays a pivotal role in the security of the Middle East as the doorway to Europe and its military expenditure reflects its involvement in the machinations of such an unstable region, showing considerable variation over the last 40?years. These characteristics make it a particularly interesting case study of the determinants of military spending. This paper specifies and estimates an econometric model of the Egyptian demand for military spending, taking into account important strategic and political factors. Both economic and strategic factors are found to play a role in determining military burden/spending, with clear positive effects of lagged military burden, suggesting some sort of institutional inertia, plus negative output and net exports effects. The strategic effect as a result of the impact of Israel’s military burden is mostly positive and significant, though its impact is reduced when the impact of important strategic events are taken into account. The military spending of Egypt’s allies Jordan and Syria generally seems to have had no effect on Egypt’s spending. These results are consistent over a range of econometric techniques.     

全球信息栅格及其对美军导弹防御系统的作用

导弹防御系统是美军重点发展的战略武器系统。C4ISR作为导弹防御系统体系中重要的通信指挥自动化系统,由于其自身存在着信息网闭塞与狭窄的缺点,制约着导弹防御系统的功能发挥。美军目前正在全力建设全球信息栅格,通过整合各种信息资源,构成一个可以共享"陆、海、空、天"多维信息的互连互通互操作网络,提升导弹防御系统的一体化信息交互,建成一个多层次、全方位、覆盖全球的导弹拦截系统。     

面向需求变化的军队自动化立体仓库货位优化

为提高军队自动化立体仓库的出库能力,提出应根据需求变化对在库物资货位进行动态调整,从而最大限度地保障军队物资需求。综合考虑堆垛机总行程、货物离散度和出库频率等评价指标,采用遗传算法对该多目标优化问题进行求解,并运用Matalab仿真。结果表明,该方法能较好地提高军队自动化立体仓库在需求动态变化时的出库能力。同时,该研究对一般仓库的货位优化也有一定的借鉴意义。     

基于备件需求预测的两步法理论

在对备件需求时间序列研究的基础上,结合指数平滑法和Croston法的特点,分析了指数平滑法与两步法的原理,通过对指数平滑法和两步法方差的研究,得到两步法是指数平滑法的一般形式的结论,为两步法的进一步研究提供一定的理论支撑。     

地面防空火力配系方案评估模型

地面防空火力配系方案的选择,是防空兵火力配系的关键环节,其合理与否,直接关系到作战效能的发挥和防空作战的成败。根据防空作战的实际,提出了地面防空火力配系方案评估的准则,在对评估准则的建模要素进行分析的基础上,构建了每个准则的计算模型,并给出了评估模型的计算方法,提供了模型应用的一般程序。     

系统动力学防空战场信息战模型

现代条件下的防空作战是一种信息化作战样式,阐明了防空信息战的基本概念,论述了系统动力学用于研究防空信息作战的适用性,建立了防空战场信息战的系统动力学模型,通过对模型不同仿真结果的比较,印证了制信息权在防空作战中的重要性,做出了防空战场信息作战的对策分析。     

区域防空反导预警系统

在区域防空反导作战过程中 ,首先需要解决的是预警问题 ,反导预警系统是区域防空反导体系的重要组成部分。在分析区域防空面临的威胁目标的基础上 ,对区域防空反导预警系统的组成、任务、作用进行了说明 ,讨论了反导预警过程及其特点 ,最后对反导预警系统进行了分析 ,并就预警系统的建设提出了初步的看法。