Aircraft routing under the risk of detection

The deterministic problem for finding an aircraft's optimal risk trajectory in a threat environment has been formulated. The threat is associated with the risk of aircraft detection by radars or similar sensors. The model considers an aircraft's trajectory in three‐dimensional (3‐D) space and represents the aircraft by a symmetrical ellipsoid with the axis of symmetry directing the trajectory. Analytical and discrete optimization approaches for routing an aircraft with variable radar cross‐section (RCS) subject to a constraint on the trajectory length have been developed. Through techniques of Calculus of Variations, the analytical approach reduces the original risk optimization problem to a vectorial nonlinear differential equation. In the case of a single detecting installation, a solution to this equation is expressed by a quadrature. A network optimization approach reduces the original problem to the Constrained Shortest Path Problem (CSPP) for a 3‐D network. The CSPP has been solved for various ellipsoid shapes and different length constraints in cases with several radars. The impact of ellipsoid shape on the geometry of an optimal trajectory as well as the impact of variable RCS on the performance of a network optimization algorithm have been analyzed and illustrated by several numerical examples. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Naval Research Logistics, 2006     

Vertically restrictive pricing in supply chains with price‐dependent demand

We examine the behavior of a manufacturer and a retailer in a decentralized supply chain under price‐dependent, stochastic demand. We model a retail fixed markup (RFM) policy, which can arise as a form of vertically restrictive pricing in a supply chain, and we examine its effect on supply chain performance. We prove the existence of the optimal pricing and replenishment policies when demand has a linear additive form and the distribution of the uncertainty component has a nondecreasing failure rate. We numerically compare the relative performance of RFM to a price‐only contract and we find that RFM results in greater profit for the supply chain than the price‐only contract in a variety of scenarios. We find that RFM can lead to Pareto‐improving solutions where both the supplier and the retailer earn more profit than under a price‐only contract. Finally, we compare RFM to a buyback contract and explore the implications of allowing the fixed markup parameter to be endogenous to the model. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Naval Research Logistics, 2006.     

开放架构的数字视频管理系统iView研究与实现

iView是我们研制的基于多模态元数据提取,具有开放架构且支持无线移动存取的数字视频全内容管理系统。本文讨论了系统的需求,体系框架设计实现,描述了其中涉及的关键技术思想,并对存在的问题和研究方向做了简单探讨。     

Risk pooling in a two-period,two-echelon inventory stocking and allocation problem

The object of this article is to investigate the risk-pooling effect of depot stock in two-echelon distribution system in which the depot serves n retailers in parallel, and to develop computationally tractable optimization procedures for such systems. The depot manager has complete information about stock levels and there are two opportunities to allocate stock to the retailers within each order cycle. We identify first- and second-order aspects to the risk-pooling effect. In particular, the second-order effect is the property that the minimum stock available to any retailer after the second allocation converges in probability to a constant as the number of retailers in the system increases, assuming independence of the demands. This property is exploited in the development of efficient procedures to determine near-optimal values of the policy parameters.     

After the Split: Partition,Successor States,and the Dynamics of War in the Horn of Africa

Why do partitioned successor states engage one another in armed conflict? We explore the drivers of war between successor states by comparing two border crises that followed the partitions of Ethiopia (1993) and Sudan (2011). We argue that the politico-military struggles that give way to partition create important historical memories that shape what successor states think about the utility of military force. While the partition of Ethiopia yielded successor states led by regimes that were victors of the preceding war of partition, the war of partition in Sudan produced successor states that emerged out of military stalemate. This distinction explains why Ethiopia and Eritrea waged a costly border war that Sudan and South Sudan were able to avoid.     

Properties of a source location estimator in the plane

The statistical properties of an estimator of a source location were established by simulation for the case in which the source location is estimated—using transformation of lines to points—from the angles in which different observers see the source, and both the assumed locations of the observer points and the observed angles are subject to error. It was found that for normal error distributions the estimator is unbiased, and the resulting estimates are approximately normally distributed with a small standard deviation. An easy-to-use and reliable forecasting formula was suggested to forecast the parameters of the distributions of the estimates for different observer-source relationships. © 1993 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Establishing Reliability Goals for Naval Major-Caliber Ammunition

We describe a decision process for establishing the threshold reliabilities for components of naval major-caliber ammunition. We present a measure of reliability performance, called ef*, which relates directly to the weapons system's performance in a naval gunfire support environment. We use a simulation model to establish this relationship, a regression metamodel to estimate its parameters, and a simple decision process to specify component reliability thresholds which ensure that the ammunition is mission effective. We present this article as an example of the integration of discrete event dynamic system analysis within a decision process. © 1992 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.