A multilevel passenger screening problem for aviation security

Passenger prescreening is a critical component of aviation security systems. This paper introduces the Multilevel Allocation Problem (MAP), which models the screening of passengers and baggage in a multilevel aviation security system. A passenger is screened by one of several classes, each of which corresponds to a set of procedures using security screening devices, where passengers are differentiated by their perceived risk levels. Each class is defined in terms of its fixed cost (the overhead costs), its marginal cost (the additional cost to screen a passenger), and its security level. The objective of MAP is to assign each passenger to a class such that the total security is maximized subject to passenger assignments and budget constraints. This paper shows that MAP is NP‐hard and introduces a Greedy heuristic that obtains approximate solutions to MAP that use no more than two classes. Examples are constructed using data extracted from the Official Airline Guide. Analysis of the examples suggests that fewer security classes for passenger screening may be more effective and that using passenger risk information can lead to more effective security screening strategies. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Naval Research Logistics, 2006     

Landmarks in defense literature

Some Principles of Maritime Strategy. Julian S. Corbett. Longmans, London, 1911     

War reserve spares kits supplemented by normal operating assets

In peacetime, base stock levels of spares are determined on the assumption of normal resupply from the depot. In the event of war, however, a unit must be prepared to operate from stock on hand for a period of time without being resupplied from the depot. This paper describes a mathematical model for determining such war reserve spares (WRS) requirements. Specifically, the model solves the following kind of optimization problem: find the least-cost WRS kits that will keep the probability of a stockout after K cannibalizations less than or equal to some target objective α. The user of the model specifies the number of allowable cannibalizations, and the level of protection that the kit is supposed to provide. One interesting feature of this model is that in the probability computation it takes into account the possiblility of utilizing normal base operating assets. Results of a sensitivity analysis indicate that if peacetime levels were explicitly taken into account when designing a WRS kit, a cost saving of nearly 40 percent could be effected without degrading base supply performance in wartime.     

A heuristic routine for solving large loading problems

The loading problem involves the optimal allocation of n objects, each having a specified weight and value, to m boxes, each of specified capacity. While special cases of these problems can be solved with relative ease, the general problem having variable item weights and box sizes can become very difficult to solve. This paper presents a heuristic procedure for solving large loading problems of the more general type. The procedure uses a surrogate procedure for reducing the original problem to a simpler knapsack problem, the solution of which is then employed in searching for feasible solutions to the original problem. The procedure is easy to apply, and is capable of identifying optimal solutions if they are found.     

Distribution of a linear function and the ratio of two independent linear functions of independent generalized gamma variables

In this paper the exact distribution of a linear function and the ratio of two independent linear functions of independent generalized gamma variables is given.     

A saddle-point theorem for a class of infinite games

In this paper, the existence of a saddle point for two-person zero-sum infinite games of a special type is proved. The games have continuous bilinear payoff functions and strategy sets which are convex, noncompact subsets of an infinite-dimensional vector space. The closures of the strategy sets are, however, compact. The payoff functions satisfy conditions which allow the use of dominance arguments to show that points in the closure of a strategy set are dominated by or are strategically equivalent to points in the strategy set itself. Combining the dominance arguments with a well-known existence theorem produces the main result of the paper. The class of games treated is an extension of a class studied by J. D. Matheson, who obtained explicit solutions for the saddle points by using necessary conditions.     

Time minimizing flows in directed networks

An important class of network flow problems is that class for which the objective is to minimize the cost of the most expensive unit of flow while obtaining a desired total flow through the network. Two special cases of this problem have been solved, namely, the bottleneck assignment problem and time-minimizing transportation problem. This paper addresses the more general case which we shall refer to as the time-minimizing network flow problem. Associated with each arc is an arc capacity (static) and a transferral time. The objective is to find a maximal flow for which the length (in time) of the longest path carrying flow is minimized. The character of the problem is discussed and a solution algorithm is presented.