Approximation algorithms for general one‐warehouse multi‐retailer systems

Logistical planning problems are complicated in practice because planners have to deal with the challenges of demand planning and supply replenishment, while taking into account the issues of (i) inventory perishability and storage charges, (ii) management of backlog and/or lost sales, and (iii) cost saving opportunities due to economies of scale in order replenishment and transportation. It is therefore not surprising that many logistical planning problems are computationally difficult, and finding a good solution to these problems necessitates the development of many ad hoc algorithmic procedures to address various features of the planning problems. In this article, we identify simple conditions and structural properties associated with these logistical planning problems in which the warehouse is managed as a cross‐docking facility. Despite the nonlinear cost structures in the problems, we show that a solution that is within ε‐optimality can be obtained by solving a related piece‐wise linear concave cost multi‐commodity network flow problem. An immediate consequence of this result is that certain classes of logistical planning problems can be approximated by a factor of (1 + ε) in polynomial time. This significantly improves upon the results found in literature for these classes of problems. We also show that the piece‐wise linear concave cost network flow problem can be approximated to within a logarithmic factor via a large scale linear programming relaxation. We use polymatroidal constraints to capture the piece‐wise concavity feature of the cost functions. This gives rise to a unified and generic LP‐based approach for a large class of complicated logistical planning problems. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Naval Research Logistics, 2009     

改革开放初期邓小平对军队政治工作指导方针的三次调整

改革开放初期,邓小平在领导军队现代化建设的进程中对军队政治工作指导方针作出了三次重大调整:恢复和发扬政治工作优良传统,破除"左"的思想干扰;军队要服从整个国家建设大局;军队政治工作以加强思想政治教育和制度建设应对各种严峻考验,确保政治上永远合格.这些重要的思想丰富和发展了毛泽东关于军队政治工作的理论,促进了国家和军队现代化建设又快又好的发展,对当下的军队政治工作仍发挥着重大作用.     

A Nonlinear Model of Military Expenditure Convergence: Evidence From Estar Nonlinear Unit Root Test

The paper builds a model to empirically test military expenditure convergence in a nonlinear set up. We assert that country A chooses a military strategy of catching up with the military expenditure of its rivals, subject to public spending constraints on public investments, including health and education, leading to decrease in long-term economic welfare. This implies nonlinear convergence path: only when the military expenditure gap between countries reaches the threshold level, will it provide incentives to catch up with rival’s military expenditures. We test this nonlinear catching up hypothesis for 37 countries spanning from 1988 to 2012. Results from individual nonlinear cross-sectionally augmented Dickey–Fuller (NCADF) regression indicate that 53% of countries converge to world’s average military expenditure: where 39% of countries converge to Germany; 33% of countries converge to China; 22% of countries converge to the USA, and 11% of countries converge to Russia. Interestingly, USA does not exhibit nonlinear military expenditure convergence toward world’s average level. For panel NCADF regression, the result suggests that on average, there is evidence for countries converging to USA’s military expenditure at 10% significance level. For the convergence to the world’s average, the statistical significance is at the 1% significance level.     

A characterization of optimal base‐stock levels for a multistage serial supply chain

In this article, we present a multistage model to optimize inventory control decisions under stochastic demand and continuous review. We first formulate the general problem for continuous stages and use a decomposition solution approach: since it is never optimal to let orders cross, the general problem can be broken into a set of single‐unit subproblems that can be solved in a sequential fashion. These subproblems are optimal control problems for which a differential equation must be solved. This can be done easily by recursively identifying coefficients and performing a line search. The methodology is then extended to a discrete number of stages and allows us to compute the optimal solution in an efficient manner, with a competitive complexity. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Naval Research Logistics 63: 32–46, 2016     

Timing of information acquisition in a competitive environment

This article investigates the impact of timing on sellers' information acquisition strategies in a duopoly setting. Market uncertainty is captured by a representative consumer who has a private taste for the product's horizontal attribute, and both sellers can acquire this information either before (ex‐ante acquisition) or after (ex‐post acquisition) observing their own product qualities. We identify several conflicting effects of information acquisition that vary significantly in its timing and market characteristics. In the monopoly scenario, information acquisition is unambiguously beneficial and ex‐ante acquisition is the dominant option, because it helps a seller not only design the proper product but also craft better pricing strategy. By contrast, when there is competition, information acquisition eliminates the buffer role of market uncertainty and leads to the fiercest production or pricing competition, which makes the subsequent effects of acquisition detrimental, and a seller's payoff is nonmonotonic in terms of its acquisition cost. Moreover, compared with the ex‐ante information acquisition, ex‐post information acquisition normally generates higher sellers' equilibrium payoffs by postponing the timing of acquisition and maintaining product differentiation. Nonetheless, ex‐post information acquisition also provides the seller with greater acquisition incentive and occasionally makes him worse off than that in the ex‐ante scenario. Thus, in a competitive environment, having the option of information acquisition and flexibility in its timing can be both detrimental and irresistible. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Naval Research Logistics 63: 3–22, 2016     

Monitoring censored lifetime data with a weighted‐likelihood scheme

Lifetime experiments are common in many research areas and industrial applications. Recently, process monitoring for lifetime observations has received increasing attention. However, some existing methods are inadequate as neither their in control (IC) nor out of control (OC) performance is satisfactory. In addition, the challenges associated with designing robust and flexible control schemes have yet to be fully addressed. To overcome these limitations, this article utilizes a newly developed weighted likelihood ratio test, and proposes a novel monitoring strategy that automatically combines the likelihood of past samples with the exponential weighted sum average scheme. The proposed Censored Observation‐based Weighted‐Likelihood (COWL) control chart gives desirable IC and OC performances and is robust under various scenarios. In addition, a self‐starting control chart is introduced to cope with the problem of insufficient reference samples. Our simulation shows a stronger power in detecting changes in the censored lifetime data using our scheme than using other alternatives. A real industrial example based on the breaking strength of carbon fiber also demonstrates the effectiveness of the proposed method. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Naval Research Logistics 63: 631–646, 2017     

Nonlinear pricing with consumer satiation

In various scenarios, consumers may become satiated with products, and the degree of satiation is directly associated with their prior experiences. Confronted with consumer satiation, the seller is unable to either identify consumers who have a higher likelihood of being satiated ex ante or distinguish satiated from non‐satiated consumers ex post. Therefore, the seller should address dynamic selling, valuation uncertainty, and quantity decisions, all of which are important operational issues. We consider a two‐period problem in which consumer types are influenced by their prior consumption experiences. Faced with these consumers, the seller intends to optimize quantities and adjust the prices of the products in each period to maximize revenue. We find that the seller may reduce ex ante production quantity as some consumers become satiated. Moreover, the ex ante quantity is first decreasing and then increasing with regard to the satiation rate. Furthermore, two‐period information asymmetries may provide a rationale for upward distortion in quantity when consumer preferences are highly sensitive to first‐period consumption. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Naval Research Logistics 63: 386–400, 2016     

TDMA网络及通信信道模拟系统的设计与实现

由于无线信道不稳定,且网络拓扑难以控制,在基于TDMA网络的无线收发设备开发上层应用时,迫切需要一个简单易控、比较真实的开发调试平台。文中比较了国内外一些无线网络模拟器的优缺点,提出并设计实现了一种通过以太网模拟无线网络的模拟系统。该模拟系统具有扩展性好,真实可靠且操作简单等优点,对加快相关设备和应用系统的研发进程,节约开发成本具有重要的意义。     

把培育当代军人核心价值观作为一项战略性基础工程抓紧抓实

把培育当代革命军人核心价值观作为一项战略性基础工程来抓,就必须把加强党的创新理论武装作为主线;把深入持久开展四项教育作为主渠道;把军事斗争准备实践作为主课堂。     

Scheduling parallel machines with inclusive processing set restrictions

We consider the problem of assigning a set of jobs to different parallel machines of the same processing speed, where each job is compatible to only a subset of those machines. The machines can be linearly ordered such that a higher‐indexed machine can process all those jobs that a lower‐indexed machine can process. The objective is to minimize the makespan of the schedule. This problem is motivated by industrial applications such as cargo handling by cranes with nonidentical weight capacities, computer processor scheduling with memory constraints, and grades of service provision by parallel servers. We develop an efficient algorithm for this problem with a worst‐case performance ratio of + ε, where ε is a positive constant which may be set arbitrarily close to zero. We also present a polynomial time approximation scheme for this problem, which answers an open question in the literature. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Naval Research Logistics, 2008