Return policy: Hassle‐free or your money‐back guarantee?

This article compares the profitability of two pervasively adopted return policies—money‐back guarantee and hassle‐free policies. In our model, a seller sells to consumers with heterogeneous valuations and hassle costs. Products are subject to quality risk, and product misfit can only be observed post‐purchase. While the hassle‐free policy is cost advantageous from the seller's viewpoint, a money‐back guarantee allows the seller to fine‐tune the consumer hassle on returning the product. Thus, when the two return policies lead to the same consumer behaviors, the hassle‐free policy dominates. Conversely, a money‐back guarantee can be more profitable even if on average, high‐valuation consumers experience a lower hassle cost than the low‐valuation ones. The optimal hassle cost can be higher when product quality gets improved; thus, it is not necessarily a perfect proxy or signal of the seller's quality. We further allow the seller to adopt a mixture of these policies, and identify the concrete operating regimes within which these return policies are optimal among more flexible policies. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Naval Research Logistics 61: 403–417, 2014     

Strategic outsourcing under technology spillovers

We study a supply chain in which an original equipment manufacturer (OEM) and a contract manufacturer (CM) compete in the finished goods market. The OEM can decide whether to outsource the intermediate good, a critical component for producing the finished good, from the CM or make in‐house production. Technology transition improves the CM's production efficiency, and it can take two different forms: a direct technology transfer from the OEM to the CM or technology spillovers through outsourcing from the OEM to the CM. We document the possibility of strategic outsourcing, that is, the CM supplies the intermediate good to the OEM when she is less efficient than the OEM's in‐house production. We find that technology spillovers can strengthen the incentive for strategic outsourcing. Furthermore, compared with direct technology transfers, outsourcing coupled with technology spillovers may generate more technology transition. Outsourcing is a particularly appropriate channel for implicit collusion when the OEM is not very efficient with the production of the intermediate good. Our results suggest that ex post competition on the finished goods can create room for ex ante collaboration and provide some implications on the OEM's outsourcing strategies when facing a competitive CM.© 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Naval Research Logistics 61: 501–514, 2014     

基于非负矩阵分解的电磁超声系统优化研究

针对孤立脉冲群电磁超声系统信号特征容易被噪声淹没的问题,提出基于改进的非负矩阵分解（INMF）优选特征的支持向量机（SVM）方法．首先,用3种不同的方法提取高维特征;其次,用NMF方法实现特征降维,并保证降维结果的唯一性,避免对特征的直接选择;最后,应用支持向量机方法对降维特征进行分类．对孤立脉冲群电磁超声系统采集的4种信号特征进行提取、选择和分类,实验结果表明：INMF方法能有效提取微弱信号的特征,减少运算量,提高电磁超声系统特征采集的准确率．     

基于Hurst指数的油罐声发射信号分析

由油罐声发射检测直接得出油罐底板状态等级的评价研究工作有待完善。提出一种基于Hurst指数理论分析声发射信号幅值最大值分布的评价方法。从Hurst指数分形理论出发,结合声发射信号参数处理方法,给出研究条件假设,分析现场油罐声发射信号结果,并与开罐检测的底板状况加以对比分析。研究发现,相同检测条件,同种类型油罐底板状态等级与Hurst指数呈相反的关系。     

LEACH—DRT算法中基于神经网络的数据预测算法

为了保证无线传感器网络中数据的完整性,针对基于LEACH路由协议的动态轮时间算法存在的问题,提出一种基于人工神经网络的数据预测算法。该动态轮时间算法中,部分簇因调整后的轮时间不足以完成数据的采集而丢失数据。数据预测算法结合传感器节点数据具有时空相关性的特点,将时空延迟算子引入神经网络模型,并通过建立的神经网络模型对数据进行预测。仿真时采用伯克利英特尔实验室的传感器数据,通过Mafl软件对模型进行测试并分析仿真结果。实验结果表明：该算法对连续多个数据的预测效果理想,预测误差始终保持在较低水平。     

基于Camlp5的泛型编程“缺省情况”研究

"泛型编程"旨在编写一般化并可重复使用的算法,主要目的是提高程序的复用性,其效率与针对某特定数据类型而设计的算法相同。在书写泛型函数时经常会出现新的数据结构或类型,这些数据类型往往并不符合已有通用函数的计算方式,而要计算这些新的数据类型需要修改原有通用函数的定义,从而极大降低了程序的复用性。通过定义新函数来操作新的数据类型可以避免频繁修改原有通用函数。但是,新函数定义中必然会有大量与原有通用函数功能相似的重复冗余代码,因此,引入"缺省情况"使得新函数的定义可以通过调用原有通用函数而获得,这样即不对原有函数造成影响,又极大简化了针对新类型书写相关函数的复杂程度。文中利用Camlp5工具对O′Caml语法进行扩展,在原有"泛型编程"的基础上引入了"缺省情况",使该语言书写的泛型函数更加清晰、不易出错,从而极大提高了O′Caml中"泛型编程"的稳定性和复用性。     

Joint inventory and pricing decisions for perishable products with two‐period lifetime

We consider a periodic review model over a finite horizon for a perishable product with fixed lifetime equal to two review periods. The excess demand in a period is backlogged. The optimal replenishment and demand management (using price) decisions for such a product depend on the relative order of consumption of fresh and old units. We obtain insights on the structure of these decisions when the order of consumption is first‐in, first‐out and last‐in, first‐out. For the FIFO system, we also obtain bounds on both the optimal replenishment quantity as well as expected demand. We compare the FIFO system to two widely analyzed inventory systems that correspond to nonperishable and one‐period lifetime products to understand if demand management would modify our understanding of the relationship among the three systems. In a counterintuitive result, we find that it is more likely that bigger orders are placed in the FIFO system than for a nonperishable product when demand is managed. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Naval Research Logistics, 2013     

应急辅助定位及精度评估方法研究

在可视导航卫星数少于四颗、无法进行传统导航解算的恶劣环境下,导航接收机可利用外部高程气压计提供的高程或者内部守时模块的钟差等信息进行应急辅助定位。在该应急辅助定位工作模式的误差分析中,传统导航定位误差传递模型无法适用。针对此问题,本文在研究三星结合高程、三星结合钟差、双星结合高程钟差等几种应急辅助定位原理的基础上,给出了新的应急辅助定位误差传递的分析模型,利用仿真算例验证了该模型的正确性。通过对定位精度的分析,说明根据卫星分布特点可以按照本文方法量化得到伪距测量与辅助信息的精度的最优数量级关系,可以用最小代价实现定位精度的提升。该结论可指导接收机外部辅助器件的选择。     

基于Sub-Nyquist采样的单通道频谱感知技术

宽带频谱感知技术在认知无线电中具有广泛的应用。基于时分的思想,将信号采集时间以固定长度的时间片进行划分,分别与不同的伪随机码信号相乘,经过低通滤波和sub-Nyquist采样,利用采样数据求出信号的频率支集。与已有的多通道频谱感知结构相比,本文用相对简单的单通道结构实现,同样能够利用低速率的采样点完成频谱感知。仿真实验结果表明,在信号的频率支集未知的情况下,该算法能够有效利用sub-Nyquist采样的数据实现频谱感知。     

舰船目标角跟踪新方法研究

相参雷达可获取舰船目标回波的距离-多普勒图(R-D图),由于舰船目标的散射点相对于雷达视线角存在多普勒的差异,于是舰船目标在R-D图上一般要跨越几个多普勒单元,传统选信号的最大点作为跟踪点不能完全使用R-D图信息,而合理使用R-D图信息才可减小目标的幅度起伏、角闪烁等的影响,为此研究无偏几何中心法目标跟踪点的选择方法.实验表明:当目标有起伏或角闪烁时,所提无偏几何中心法优于最大值法.