Strategic dynamic sourcing from competing suppliers with transferable capacity investment

We study the supplier relationship choice for a buyer that invests in transferable capacity operated by a supplier. With a long‐term relationship, the buyer commits to source from a supplier over a long period of time. With a short‐term relationship, the buyer leaves open the option of switching to a new supplier in the future. The buyer has incomplete information about a supplies efficiency, and thus uses auctions to select suppliers and determine the contracts. In addition, the buyer faces uncertain demand for the product. A long‐term relationship may be beneficial for the buyer because it motivates more aggressive bidding at the beginning, resulting a lower initial price. A short‐term relationship may be advantageous because it allows switching, with capacity transfer at some cost, to a more efficient supplier in the future. We find that there exists a critical level of the switching cost above which a long‐term relationship is better for the buyer than a short‐term relationship. In addition, this critical switching cost decreases with demand uncertainty, implying a long‐term relationship is more favorable for a buyer facing volatile demand. Finally, we find that in a long‐term relationship, capacity can be either higher or lower than in a short‐term relationship. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Naval Research Logistics 2009     

Information security: Designing a stochastic‐network for throughput and reliability

Todas information and communication network requires a design that is secure to tampering. Traditional performance measures of reliability and throughput must be supplemented with measures of security. Recognition of an adversary who can inflict damage leads toward a game‐theoretic model. Through such a formulation, guidelines for network designs and improvements are derived. We opt for a design that is most robust to withstand both natural degradation and adversarial attacks. Extensive computational experience with such a model suggests that a Nash‐equilibrium design exists that can withstand the worst possible damage. Most important, the equilibrium is value‐free in that it is stable irrespective of the unit costs associated with reliability vs. capacity improvement and how one wishes to trade between throughput and reliability. This finding helps to pinpoint the most critical components in network design. From a policy standpoint, the model also allows the monetary value of information‐security to be imputed. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Naval Research Logistics, 2009     

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     

Approximating the nondominated frontiers of multi‐objective combinatorial optimization problems

Finding all nondominated vectors for multi‐objective combinatorial optimization (MOCO) problems is computationally very hard in general. We approximate the nondominated frontiers of MOCO problems by fitting smooth hypersurfaces. For a given problem, we fit the hypersurface using a single nondominated reference vector. We experiment with different types of MOCO problems and demonstrate that in all cases the fitted hypersurfaces approximate all nondominated vectors well. We discuss that such an approximation is useful to find the neighborhood of preferred regions of the nondominated vectors with very little computational effort. Further computational effort can then be spent in the identified region to find the actual nondominated vectors the decision maker will prefer. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Naval Research Logistics, 2009     

清末不同政治力量对新军的思想控驭及其影响

清政府不仅从新军指挥体系入手强化中央集权,更注重利用思想控驭,加强对官兵"忠君"与"爱清"的教育,力图使新军成为大清王朝的护卫者.当清政府既不能应付外来挑战,又无法处理好国内问题时,许多新军官兵成为激进的民族主义者.这为革命党人在新军中的思想灌输大开方便之门.革命精神和"反满"情绪在大江以南的新军官兵中最为强烈,而北洋新军大部是忠于袁世凯的.这些都对清朝的统治构成致命打击.     

基于“票”的多路径QoS路由协议

Ad Hoc网络QoS路由协议是目前研究的热点.研究了现有的经典Ad Hoc网络QoS路由协议,并提出了一种基于"票"的多路径QoS路由协议,简称QoSMP.该协议综合了基于"票"的协议和多路径协议的优点,以带宽为QoS参数,寻找有效的路径.其基本思想是在源节点分发一些"票",进一步地分裂为许多"子票",以寻找满足的多路径路由.通过仿真实验与基于"票"的协议和单路径协议进行比较分析,结果表明QoSMP协议开销小,成功率高.该协议有待进一步改进,以便更好地满足QoS需求.     

军史编研人员要模范践行当代革命军人核心价值观

军史编研人员是传承历史续写文明的"播火者".在培育和践行当代革命军人核心价值观活动中,必须以身作则、率先垂范、努力学习、躬身践行.一是要深刻理解精髓要义,切实增强模范践行的责任感;二是要充分认清职责使命,切实提高模范践行的高标准;三是要严格落实规章制度,切实塑造模范践行的好形象.     

罗炳辉与军事统一战线

作为中国人民解放军36位军事家之一的罗炳辉,被赞颂为传奇式英雄、智勇双全的人物①.罗炳辉的传奇军旅生涯不仅表现在,他指挥军队在与敌军兵戎相见的战场上.     

热交联法制备低含氧量碳化硅纤维初步研究

通过对低预氧化程度的聚碳硅烷 (PCS)纤维进行热交联处理 ,降低SiC纤维中的氧含量 ,经过二步烧成法制备出机械性能及高温耐氧化性能优良的连续SiC纤维。通过IR、XRD、SEM、元素分析仪等分析手段系统研究了研究了热交联碳化硅纤维的热交联处理的工艺条件、烧成工艺 ,研究了热交联碳化硅纤维的组成、微观结构及其与纤维的力学性能、高温抗氧化性能的关系