Designing and pricing menus of extended warranty contracts

Extended warranties provide “piece of mind” to a consumer in that product failures which occur after the base warranty expires are rectified at little or no cost. They also provide an additional source of revenue for manufacturers or third‐party providers, such as retailers or insurance providers, and help cultivate consumer loyalty. In this article, we analyze a number of extended warranty contracts which differ in design, including restrictions on deferrals and renewals. With the use of dynamic programming, we compute the optimal strategy for a consumer with perfect information and determine the optimal pricing policy for the provider given the consumer's risk characterization. We also provide insight into when different contracts should be issued. Finally, we illustrate how profits can be dramatically increased by offering menus of warranty contracts, as opposed to stand alone contracts, with the use of integer programming. Surprisingly, risk‐taking consumers provide the greatest benefit to offering menus. These insights can help a company develop a comprehensive warranty planning strategy for given products or product lines. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Naval Research Logistics 2009     

战术互联网模拟训练系统军事总体问题研究

军事总体设计是技术总体设计的基础,是模拟训练系统设计的首要任务.对于战术互联网模拟训练系统军事总体设计中的有关问题,采用对比和比较法,对系统军事总体需求和框架进行了研究,明确了战术互联网模拟训练系统的训练方式、使用流程、功能体系等内容,为下一步系统的技术总体方案设计以及实现奠定了良好基础.     

参数化时频分析的匀加速旋转目标ISAR成像

对于机动目标,运动补偿后目标相对于雷达的转动不能近似为匀速转动,而是更接近于匀加速转动,此时传统的距离多普勒成像算法不能得到很好的成像结果.分析总结了几种针对非匀速转动的时频联合分析算法,提出了一种基于参数化时频分析-AGCD快速算法的匀加速旋转目标成像算法,仿真表明了该算法具有精度高、速度快且无交叉项的优点,比原有的一些算法有较大的改进.     

影响图建模算法的改进

影响图建模方法是一种规范化的复杂系统建模方法,其实质是将表征复杂系统的参量及参量间的耦合关系进行分类,并以此为基础建立系统的数学模型.影响图建模算法就是将系统的参量及参量间的耦合关系进行分类的算法.目前使用的算法是James R.Burns于1979年提出的.该算法仅考虑了最小的反馈回路,而没有考虑影响图中存在的一般反馈回路,且一些操作造成了不必要的循环.在分析该算法的基础上,考虑了一般的反馈回路,并对原算法的操作步骤进行了优化重组.     

Estimation from binomial data with classifiers of known and unknown imperfections

Observations from inspection by a “test” method and a standard method are combined to provide estimators of population proportion, and of probabilities of misclassification for the test method. Results of Hochberg and Tenenbein [3] and of Albers and Veldman [1] are extended to the case where the standard method is not perfect, but its misclassification probabilities have known values. Both moment and maximum-likelihood estimators are considered and some asymptotic properties of the resulting estimators are compared.     

The orienteering problem

Orienteering is a sport in which start and end points are specified along with other locations. These other locations have associated scores. Competitors seek to visit, in a fixed amount of time, a subset of these locations on the way from the start point to the end point in order to maximize the total score. An effective center-of-gravity heuristic is presented that outperforms heuristics from the literature.     

A dual criteria sequencing problem with earliness and tardiness penalties

We consider the problem of sequencing n jobs on a single machine, with each job having a processing time and a common due date. The common due date is assumed to be so large that all jobs can complete by the due date. It is known that there is an O(n log n)‐time algorithm for finding a schedule with minimum total earliness and tardiness. In this article, we consider finding a schedule with dual criteria. The primary goal is to minimize the total earliness and tardiness. The secondary goals are to minimize: (1) the maximum earliness and tardiness; (2) the sum of the maximum of the squares of earliness and tardiness; (3) the sum of the squares of earliness and tardiness. For the first two criteria, we show that the problems are NP‐hard and we give a fully polynomial time approximation scheme for both of them. For the last two criteria, we show that the ratio of the worst schedule versus the best schedule is no more than . © 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Naval Research Logistics 49: 422–431, 2002; Published online in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com). DOI 10.1002/nav.10020     

Bernard Fall and Vietnamese Revolutionary Warfare in Indochina

This article assesses Bernard Fall’s concept of Vietnamese Revolutionary Warfare in Indochina between 1953 and 1958. It also investigates differences in the conceptualization of Revolutionary Warfare between Fall and proponents of French military doctrine known as la guerre révolutionnaire. The last component of the article considers limits of Fall’s influence on counterinsurgency doctrine.