Attrition through a partially coordinated area defense

An area defense consists of several groups that act independently, i.e., do not communicate with each other. Each group has a fixed number of defenders and a controller that allocates these defenders optimally against the individual attackers comprising an attack. We analyze the effectiveness of this partially coordinated defense against a simultaneous attack of known size in which all attackers are considered to be equally lethal. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Naval Research Logistics, 2005.     

Finding the Kth shortest path in a time‐schedule network

We consider the problem of finding the Kth shortest path for a time‐schedule network, where each node in the network has a list of prespecified departure times, and departure from the node can take place only at one of these departure times. We develop a polynomial time algorithm independent of K for finding the Kth shortest path. The proposed algorithm constructs a map structure at each node in the network, using which we can directly find the Kth shortest path without having to enumerate the first K − 1 paths. Since the same map structure is used for different K values, it is not necessary to reconstruct the table for additional paths. Consequently, the algorithm is suitable for directly finding multiple shortest paths in the same network. Furthermore, the algorithm is modified slightly for enumerating the first K shortest paths and is shown to have the lowest possible time complexity under a condition that holds for most practical networks. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Naval Research Logistics, 2005.     

Scheduling a production–distribution system to optimize the tradeoff between delivery tardiness and distribution cost

We consider a make‐to‐order production–distribution system with one supplier and one or more customers. A set of orders with due dates needs to be processed by the supplier and delivered to the customers upon completion. The supplier can process one order at a time without preemption. Each customer is at a distinct location and only orders from the same customer can be batched together for delivery. Each delivery shipment has a capacity limit and incurs a distribution cost. The problem is to find a joint schedule of order processing at the supplier and order delivery from the supplier to the customers that optimizes an objective function involving the maximum delivery tardiness and the total distribution cost. We first study the solvability of various cases of the problem by either providing an efficient algorithm or proving the intractability of the problem. We then develop a fast heuristic for the general problem. We show that the heuristic is asymptotically optimal as the number of orders goes to infinity. We also evaluate the performance of the heuristic computationally by using lower bounds obtained by a column generation approach. Our results indicate that the heuristic is capable of generating near optimal solutions quickly. Finally, we study the value of production–distribution integration by comparing our integrated approach with two sequential approaches where scheduling decisions for order processing are made first, followed by order delivery decisions, with no or only partial integration of the two decisions. We show that in many cases, the integrated approach performs significantly better than the sequential approaches. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Naval Research Logistics, 2005     

Rayleigh衰落信道下一种实用的Turbo解码算法

通过理论和仿真实验证明:无论Rayleigh衰落信道是否完美估计,Max-Log-MAP算法都与信噪比无关,而且还与其他信道参数无关.通过缩放Max-Log-MAP算法输出软信息的幅度,在没有增加运算量的前提下,解码性能提高到了与Log-MAP算法相当的程度.由于缩放软信息的Max-Log-MAP算法不需要任何信道参数...     

Using stochastic programming to solve an outpatient appointment scheduling problem with random service and arrival times

We study a stochastic outpatient appointment scheduling problem (SOASP) in which we need to design a schedule and an adaptive rescheduling (i.e., resequencing or declining) policy for a set of patients. Each patient has a known type and associated probability distributions of random service duration and random arrival time. Finding a provably optimal solution to this problem requires solving a multistage stochastic mixed‐integer program (MSMIP) with a schedule optimization problem solved at each stage, determining the optimal rescheduling policy over the various random service durations and arrival times. In recognition that this MSMIP is intractable, we first consider a two‐stage model (TSM) that relaxes the nonanticipativity constraints of MSMIP and so yields a lower bound. Second, we derive a set of valid inequalities to strengthen and improve the solvability of the TSM formulation. Third, we obtain an upper bound for the MSMIP by solving the TSM under the feasible (and easily implementable) appointment order (AO) policy, which requires that patients are served in the order of their scheduled appointments, independent of their actual arrival times. Fourth, we propose a Monte Carlo approach to evaluate the relative gap between the MSMIP upper and lower bounds. Finally, in a series of numerical experiments, we show that these two bounds are very close in a wide range of SOASP instances, demonstrating the near‐optimality of the AO policy. We also identify parameter settings that result in a large gap in between these two bounds. Accordingly, we propose an alternative policy based on neighbor‐swapping. We demonstrate that this alternative policy leads to a much tighter upper bound and significantly shrinks the gap.     

基于多虚拟目标模型的榴弹炮炸偏修正方法

榴弹炮的传统射击修正方法是根据射击目标的高角距变及偏流不变原则完成的,该方法在通常情况下可以满足射击修正精度要求,但是在炮目距离接近最大射程,或因气象条件、弹药条件、火炮条件等数据不准确造成炸点偏离目标较远等情况下,高角距变和偏流均会产生剧烈变化,因此,传统修正方法存在较大误差.提出一种基于多虚拟目标模型的修正方法来改善这个问题,分析结果表明,该方法比传统方法修正精度更高.     

Fullerene bisadduct stabilizers: The effect of different addition positions on inhibiting the autocatalytic decomposition of nitrocellulose absorbed nitroglycerin

To explore the effect of different positions and number of pyrrolidine bound to the carbon cage on the stabilization effect of fulleropyrrolidine derivatives to nitrocellulose (NC)/nitroglycerine (NG), we synthesized N-(4-methoxy) phenylpyrrolidine-C₆₀ and four different of bis(N-(4-methoxy) phenylpyrrolidine)-C₆₀ compounds through Prato reaction. Their structures were characterized by UV–vis, ¹H NMR, ¹³C NMR, high-resolution mass spectroscopy, and single-crystal X-ray diffraction. Their stabilization effect to NC/NG were investigated using differential scanning calorimetry, methyl violet, vacuum stabilization effect, weight loss, and accelerating rate calorimeter tests. The results indicated these compounds had excellent stabilization effect to NC/NG. The stabilization effect of the fulleropyrrolidine bisadducts to NC/NG is significantly better than that of fulleropyrrolidine monoadduct and C₆₀. Moreover, the position where pyrrolidine binds to fullerene in fulleropyrrolidine bisadducts is different, and its stabilization effect to NC is also different. The stabilization effect order of different bisadduct isomers to nitrocellulose is as follows: e-edge > trans-2> cis-2> trans-3. Electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) and FT-IR were used to study the stabilization mechanism of fulleropyrrolidine derivatives to NC/NG. The EPR results also show that fulleropyrrolidine bisadducts with different addition sites have different abilities to absorb nitroxide, and their ability is better than that of the monoadduct and C₆₀, which is consistent with the results of stabilization effect performance test.     

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     

AN ENDOGENOUS GROWTH MODEL OF CAPITAL AND ARMS ACCUMULATION

This paper attempts to examine the effect of an anticipated foreign military threat on the steady‐state growth rate and the transitional behavior of the economy. The modeling strategy follows the Sandler and Hartley (1995 Sandler, T. and Hartley, K. 1995. The Economics of Defense, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.  [Google Scholar]) and Dunne et al. (2005 Dunne, J.P., Smith, R.P. and Willenbockel, D. 2005. Models of military expenditure and growth: a critical review. Defence and Peace Economics, 16: 449–461. [Taylor & Francis Online], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]) viewpoints to emphasize the role of national defense in affecting growth from the perspective of both the demand and the supply sides. We thus combine the public capital version of endogenous growth with a framework of competitive arms accumulation. It is found that the key factor determining the steady state and the transitional effects of a rise in the foreign military threat on the home weapon–capital ratio, the consumption–capital ratio, and the rate of economic growth, is the degree of relative risk aversion.     

TERRORIST THREATS AND TRANSITIONAL DYNAMICS IN AN OVERLAPPING GENERATIONS MODEL

Previous research has shown that the duration of a civil war is in part a function of how it ends: in government victory, rebel victory, or negotiated settlement. We present a model of how protagonists in a civil war choose to stop fighting. Hypotheses derived from this theory relate the duration of a civil war to its outcome as well as characteristics of the civil war and the civil war nation. Findings from a competing risk model reveal that the effects of predictors on duration vary according to whether the conflict ended in government victory, rebel victory, or negotiated settlement.