Two‐machine flow shop scheduling with common due window to minimize weighted number of early and tardy jobs

This article studies two due window scheduling problems to minimize the weighted number of early and tardy jobs in a two‐machine flow shop, where the window size is externally determined. These new scheduling models have many practical applications in real life. However, results on these problems have rarely appeared in the literature because of a lack of structural and optimality properties for solving them. In this article, we derive several dominance properties and theorems, including elimination rules and sequencing rules based on Johnsos order, lower bounds on the penalty, and upper bounds on the window location, which help to significantly trim the search space for the problems. We further show that the problems are NP‐hard in the ordinary sense only. We finally develop efficient pseudopolynomial dynamic programming algorithms for solving the problems. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Naval Research Logistics, 2009     

Approximation algorithms for general one‐warehouse multi‐retailer systems

Logistical planning problems are complicated in practice because planners have to deal with the challenges of demand planning and supply replenishment, while taking into account the issues of (i) inventory perishability and storage charges, (ii) management of backlog and/or lost sales, and (iii) cost saving opportunities due to economies of scale in order replenishment and transportation. It is therefore not surprising that many logistical planning problems are computationally difficult, and finding a good solution to these problems necessitates the development of many ad hoc algorithmic procedures to address various features of the planning problems. In this article, we identify simple conditions and structural properties associated with these logistical planning problems in which the warehouse is managed as a cross‐docking facility. Despite the nonlinear cost structures in the problems, we show that a solution that is within ε‐optimality can be obtained by solving a related piece‐wise linear concave cost multi‐commodity network flow problem. An immediate consequence of this result is that certain classes of logistical planning problems can be approximated by a factor of (1 + ε) in polynomial time. This significantly improves upon the results found in literature for these classes of problems. We also show that the piece‐wise linear concave cost network flow problem can be approximated to within a logarithmic factor via a large scale linear programming relaxation. We use polymatroidal constraints to capture the piece‐wise concavity feature of the cost functions. This gives rise to a unified and generic LP‐based approach for a large class of complicated logistical planning problems. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Naval Research Logistics, 2009     

A characterization of optimal base‐stock levels for a multistage serial supply chain

In this article, we present a multistage model to optimize inventory control decisions under stochastic demand and continuous review. We first formulate the general problem for continuous stages and use a decomposition solution approach: since it is never optimal to let orders cross, the general problem can be broken into a set of single‐unit subproblems that can be solved in a sequential fashion. These subproblems are optimal control problems for which a differential equation must be solved. This can be done easily by recursively identifying coefficients and performing a line search. The methodology is then extended to a discrete number of stages and allows us to compute the optimal solution in an efficient manner, with a competitive complexity. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Naval Research Logistics 63: 32–46, 2016     

Timing of information acquisition in a competitive environment

This article investigates the impact of timing on sellers' information acquisition strategies in a duopoly setting. Market uncertainty is captured by a representative consumer who has a private taste for the product's horizontal attribute, and both sellers can acquire this information either before (ex‐ante acquisition) or after (ex‐post acquisition) observing their own product qualities. We identify several conflicting effects of information acquisition that vary significantly in its timing and market characteristics. In the monopoly scenario, information acquisition is unambiguously beneficial and ex‐ante acquisition is the dominant option, because it helps a seller not only design the proper product but also craft better pricing strategy. By contrast, when there is competition, information acquisition eliminates the buffer role of market uncertainty and leads to the fiercest production or pricing competition, which makes the subsequent effects of acquisition detrimental, and a seller's payoff is nonmonotonic in terms of its acquisition cost. Moreover, compared with the ex‐ante information acquisition, ex‐post information acquisition normally generates higher sellers' equilibrium payoffs by postponing the timing of acquisition and maintaining product differentiation. Nonetheless, ex‐post information acquisition also provides the seller with greater acquisition incentive and occasionally makes him worse off than that in the ex‐ante scenario. Thus, in a competitive environment, having the option of information acquisition and flexibility in its timing can be both detrimental and irresistible. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Naval Research Logistics 63: 3–22, 2016     

Nonlinear pricing with consumer satiation

In various scenarios, consumers may become satiated with products, and the degree of satiation is directly associated with their prior experiences. Confronted with consumer satiation, the seller is unable to either identify consumers who have a higher likelihood of being satiated ex ante or distinguish satiated from non‐satiated consumers ex post. Therefore, the seller should address dynamic selling, valuation uncertainty, and quantity decisions, all of which are important operational issues. We consider a two‐period problem in which consumer types are influenced by their prior consumption experiences. Faced with these consumers, the seller intends to optimize quantities and adjust the prices of the products in each period to maximize revenue. We find that the seller may reduce ex ante production quantity as some consumers become satiated. Moreover, the ex ante quantity is first decreasing and then increasing with regard to the satiation rate. Furthermore, two‐period information asymmetries may provide a rationale for upward distortion in quantity when consumer preferences are highly sensitive to first‐period consumption. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Naval Research Logistics 63: 386–400, 2016     

Scheduling parallel machines with inclusive processing set restrictions

We consider the problem of assigning a set of jobs to different parallel machines of the same processing speed, where each job is compatible to only a subset of those machines. The machines can be linearly ordered such that a higher‐indexed machine can process all those jobs that a lower‐indexed machine can process. The objective is to minimize the makespan of the schedule. This problem is motivated by industrial applications such as cargo handling by cranes with nonidentical weight capacities, computer processor scheduling with memory constraints, and grades of service provision by parallel servers. We develop an efficient algorithm for this problem with a worst‐case performance ratio of + ε, where ε is a positive constant which may be set arbitrarily close to zero. We also present a polynomial time approximation scheme for this problem, which answers an open question in the literature. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Naval Research Logistics, 2008     

Women and the military

Debates about the relationship between women and the military have become common within Western societies. These debates primarily centre on the issue of the place, fitness and desirability of a female presence within institutions designed for national war making. There are those who claim that equality betwen the sexes demands the full integration of women into national militaries, including in combat roles, others however argue that women are ill‐equipped for the traditional tasks required of ‘warriors’. This article argues that these debates are increasingly irrelevant. Future wars are increasingly less likely to be fought only by clearly defined national combat forces and more likely to be ‘virtual’ wars involving the deployment of Western technologies against militarily inferior opponents. This too is an age in which Western states will be engaged not just in virtual wars but in ‘humanitarian intervention’, peacekeeping, enforcement and postwar reconstruction. This allows, even encourages, a rethinking of traditional notions and debates over the place of women within the military sphere.