The Banzhaf value and communication situations

Myerson 3 and 4 proposed and characterized a modification of the Shapley value in the context of communication situations. In this paper we propose several characterizations of the extension of the Banzhaf value proposed by Owen 7 to communication situations. In particular we characterize this value with the properties of fairness, isolation, and pairwise merging. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Naval Research Logistics, 2006     

Critical interfaces in body armour systems

The ballistic performance, and behaviour, of an armour system is governed by two major sets of variables, geometrical and material. Of these, the consistency of performance, especially against small arms ammunition, will depend upon the consistency of the properties of the constituent materials. In a body armour system for example, fibre diameter, areal density of woven fabric, and bulk density of ceramic are examples of critical parameters and monitoring such parameters will form the backbone of associated quality control procedures. What is often overlooked, because it can fall into the User’s domain, are the interfaces that exist between the various products; the carrier, the Soft Armour Insert (SAI), and the one or two hard armour plates (HAP1 and HAP2). This is especially true if the various products are sourced from different suppliers.There are between 30 and 150 individual layers within a typical body armour system, and each of the interfaces between each of those layers will, in some way or another, contribute to the ballistic performance of the system. For example, consider the following interfaces/interlayers: (i) the frictional, sliding, inter-ply surfaces within a soft armour pack, and also between the pack and the carrier, (ii) the air-gaps that may develop within the soft armour pack, (iii) the interconnecting space between the soft armour pack and the hard armour plate, (iv) the nature of the interfaces between adjacent plies of a multiplied backing laminate, even in a highly compressed Ultra High Molecular Weight Polyethylene (UHMWPE) variant, (v) the interlayer between the ceramic and its substrate, within a HAP, and (vi) the geometrical fit between two hard armour plates within a stacked body armour system. This paper will provide a User-friendly overview of all such interfaces and provide unique guidance as to their criticality and influence.     

Bullwhip and reverse bullwhip effects under the rationing game

When an unreliable supplier serves multiple retailers, the retailers may compete with each other by inflating their order quantities in order to obtain their desired allocation from the supplier, a behavior known as the rationing game. We introduce capacity information sharing and a capacity reservation mechanism in the rationing game and show that a Nash equilibrium always exists. Moreover, we provide conditions guaranteeing the existence of the reverse bullwhip effect upstream, a consequence of the disruption caused by the supplier. In contrast, we also provide conditions under which the bullwhip effect does not exist. In addition, we show that a smaller unit reservation payment leads to more bullwhip and reverse bullwhip effects, while a large unit underage cost results in a more severe bullwhip effect. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Naval Research Logistics 64: 203–216, 2017     

Note: Facility location with closest rectangular distances

This paper considers the problem of locating one or more new facilities on a continuous plane, where the destinations or customers, and even the facilities, may be represented by areas and not points. The objective is to locate the facilities in order to minimize a sum of transportation costs. What is new in this study is that the relevant distances are the distances from the closest point in the facility to the closest point in the demand areas. © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Naval Research Logistics 47: 77–84, 2000     

An exact algorithm for the batch sequencing problem in a two-machine flow shop with limited buffer

This paper deals with the problem of makespan minimization in a flow shop with two machines when the input buffer of the second machine can only host a limited number of parts. Here we analyze the problem in the context of batch processing, i.e., when identical parts must be processed consecutively. We propose an exact branch-and-bound algorithm, in which the bounds exploit the batching nature of the problem. Extensive computational results show the effectiveness of the approach, and allow us to compare it with a previous heuristic approach. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Naval Research Logistics 45: 141–164, 1998     

On the orbit characteristics of the M/G/ 1 retrial queue

In teletraffic applications of retrial queues only the service zone is observable. Another part of a retrial queue, the orbit, which represents the delay before repeated attempts to get service, cannot be observed. Thus, it is very important to get general results about behavior of the orbit. We investigate two characteristics of the orbit, namely, the orbit busy period and the orbit idle period, which seem to be very useful from this point of view. © 1996 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Optimizing natural gas pipeline transmission with nonuniform elevation: A new initialization approach

In this paper, we develop an iterative piecewise linear approximation approach with a novel initialization method to solve natural gas pipeline transmission problems with the nonuniform network elevation. Previous approaches, such as energy minimization methods, cannot be applied to solve problems with the nonuniform network elevation because they exclude pressure range constraints, and thus provide solutions far from optimum. We propose a new initialization model that considers pressure range constraints and improves the optimality of the solutions and the computational efficiency. Furthermore, we extend the energy minimization methods and provide the necessary conditions under which the extended methods operate in networks with the nonuniform elevation. We test the performances of the methods with previously reported pipeline networks from the literature, with the open data set GasLib, and with our industrial collaborator. The initialization approach is shown to be more efficient than the method with fixed initial breakpoints. The newly proposed initialization approach generates solutions with a higher accuracy than the extended energy minimization methods, especially in large‐size networks. The proposed method has been applied to natural gas transmission planning by the China National Petroleum Corporation and has brought a direct profit increase of 330 million U.S. dollars in 2015‐2017.     

Data-driven research in retail operations—A review

We review the operations research/management science literature on data-driven methods in retail operations. This line of work has grown rapidly in recent years, thanks to the availability of high-quality data, improvements in computing hardware, and parallel developments in machine learning methodologies. We survey state-of-the-art studies in three core aspects of retail operations—assortment optimization, order fulfillment, and inventory management. We then conclude the paper by pointing out some interesting future research possibilities for our community.     

A matter of time: On the transitory nature of cyberweapons

This article examines the transitory nature of cyberweapons. Shedding light on this highly understudied facet is important both for grasping how cyberspace affects international security and policymakers’ efforts to make accurate decisions regarding the deployment of cyberweapons. First, laying out the life cycle of a cyberweapon, I argue that these offensive capabilities are both different in ‘degree’ and in ‘kind’ compared with other regarding their temporary ability to cause harm or damage. Second, I develop six propositions which indicate that not only technical features, inherent to the different types of cyber capabilities – that is, the type of exploited vulnerability, access and payload – but also offender and defender characteristics explain differences in transitoriness between cyberweapons. Finally, drawing out the implications, I reveal that the transitory nature of cyberweapons benefits great powers, changes the incentive structure for offensive cyber cooperation and induces a different funding structure for (military) cyber programs compared with conventional weapon programs. I also note that the time-dependent dynamic underlying cyberweapons potentially explains the limited deployment of cyberweapons compared to espionage capabilities.