Multidirectional scheduling scheme in resource‐constrained project schedulingproblem

In 2000, Klein showed that bidirectional scheduling schemes (bidss) outperform single‐directional scheduling schemes (e.g., forward or backward schemes). In 2010, Yoosefzadeh, et al. [J Math Model Algor 9 (2010), 357–373] showed that depending on the nature of the problems and also the type of priority rules used, schedules produced by a so‐called tridirectional scheduling scheme (trdss) yields shorter makespans when compared to forward, backward, and even bidss. Since the justification technique is applied in many of the state‐of‐the‐art algorithms nowadays, we show that the tuned version of the trdss outperforms the double justification technique. Moreover, we investigate the circumstances under which the trdss is more probable to generate schedules with shorter makespans. To this end, we introduce a new measure of resource requirements and their distributions, namely total amount of overflows. Our analytical as well as empirical investigations show that when the new measure is increased, it is more probable to obtain schedules with shorter makespans using the trdss. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Naval Research Logistics 61: 44–55, 2014     

Critics gone wild: Counterinsurgency as the root of all evil

The Western interventions in Iraq and Afghanistan have produced a heated polemic concerning the merits and demerits of counterinsurgency – the operational approach underpinning both campaigns. The two books reviewed here provide a good summation of the arguments against counterinsurgency: it is not a strategy and will fail when mistaken as such; its theory does not make intervention and war significantly easier; and even the most successful counterinsurgency campaigns have been bloody, violent, and protracted. Yet as this review highlights, beyond these central points, criticism of counterinsurgency is too often off the mark in its approach and totalizing in its pretentions. There is much to criticize and an urgent need to learn from past campaigns, yet bold claims and broad generalizations can mislead rather than enlighten. The analysis is particularly unhelpful when the definition of the central issue at hand – counterinsurgency – is being unwittingly or deliberately distorted. In the end, these two books form a poor basis for the debate that must now take place, because they are too ideological in tone, too undisciplined in approach, and therefore too unqualified in what they finally say.     

Lot streaming with supplier–manufacturer coordination

Lot splitting refers to breaking a production lot into smaller sublots during production. Coordinating lot splitting decisions across multiple stages of a production process is a challenging task. Traditional lot splitting and lot streaming models implicitly assume that the entire system is operated and owned by the same firm, or there exists a coordinator who controls the operation of all machines in the system. In this paper, we consider the situation where the machines in a multiple‐stage production process are owned and managed by different companies. Every item in a given production lot has to go through the processing by the supplier's machine, followed by the manufacturer's machine, and so on. We develop and analyze coordination mechanisms that enable different parties in the supply chain to coordinate their lot splitting decisions so as to achieve a systemwide optimum. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Naval Research Logistics, 2004     

Double Mover–Stayer model on customer switching in telecommunications industry

Customer acquisition and customer retention are the most important challenges in the increasingly competitive telecommunications industry. Traditional studies of customer switching always assume that customers are homogeneous, and thus that model customer switching behavior follows a Markov formulation. However, this postulation is obviously inappropriate in most instances. Blumen et al. (Cornell Studies of Industrial and Labor Relations, Cornell University Press, Ithaca, NY, 1955) developed the Mover–Stayer (MS) model, a generalization of the Markov chain model, to relax the requirement of homogeneity and allow the presence of heterogeneity with two different types of individuals—“stayers,” who purchase the same kinds of products or services throughout the entire observation period; and “movers,” who look for variety in products or services over time. There are two purpose of this article. First, we extend the MS model to a Double Mover‐Stayer (DMS) model by assuming the existence of three types of individuals in the market: (1) stable and loyal customers, who have stable usage within the same company; (2) instable but loyal customers, whose usage varies within the same company over time; and (3) disloyal customers, who switch from one company to another to seek for new experiences or/and benefits. We also propose an estimation method for the DMS model. Second, we apply the DMS model to telecommunications data and demonstrate how it can be used for pattern identification, hidden knowledge discovery, and decision making. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Naval Research Logistics, 2012     

Multiple subset sum with inclusive assignment set restrictions

In a traditional multiple subset sum problem (MSSP), there is a given set of items and a given set of bins (or knapsacks) with identical capacities. The objective is to select a subset of the items and pack them into the bins such that the total weight of the selected items is maximized. However, in many applications of the MSSP, the bins have assignment restrictions. In this article, we study the subset sum problem with inclusive assignment set restrictions, in which the assignment set of one item (i.e., the set of bins that the item may be assigned to) must be either a subset or a superset of the assignment set of another item. We develop an efficient 0.6492‐approximation algorithm and test its effectiveness via computational experiments. We also develop a polynomial time approximation scheme for this problem. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Naval Research Logistics, 2011     

Optimal control of a capacitated inventory system with multiple demand classes

This article studies the optimal control of a periodic‐review make‐to‐stock system with limited production capacity and multiple demand classes. In this system, a single product is produced to fulfill several classes of demands. The manager has to make the production and inventory allocation decisions. His objective is to minimize the expected total discounted cost. The production decision is made at the beginning of each period and determines the amount of products to be produced. The inventory allocation decision is made after receiving the random demands and determines the amount of demands to be satisfied. A modified base stock policy is shown to be optimal for production, and a multi‐level rationing policy is shown to be optimal for inventory allocation. Then a heuristic algorithm is proposed to approximate the optimal policy. The numerical studies show that the heuristic algorithm is very effective. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Naval Research Logistics 58: 43–58, 2011     

Influence of porosity distribution on nonlinear free vibration and transient responses of porous functionally graded skew plates

This article deals with the investigation of the effects of porosity distributions on nonlinear free vibration and transient analysis of porous functionally graded skew (PFGS) plates. The effective material properties of the PFGS plates are obtained from the modified power-law equations in which gradation varies through the thickness of the PFGS plate. A nonlinear finite element (FE) formulation for the overall PFGS plate is derived by adopting first-order shear deformation theory (FSDT) in conjunction with von Karman’s nonlinear strain displacement relations. The governing equations of the PFGS plate are derived using the principle of virtual work. The direct iterative method and Newmark’s integration technique are espoused to solve nonlinear mathematical relations. The influences of the porosity distributions and porosity parameter indices on the nonlinear frequency responses of the PFGS plate for different skew angles are studied in various parameters. The effects of volume fraction grading index and skew angle on the plate’s nonlinear dynamic responses for various porosity distributions are illustrated in detail.     

The role of covariate balance in observational studies

Observational data are prevalent in many fields of research, and it is desirable to use this data to make causal inferences. Because this data is nonrandom, additional assumptions are needed in order to construct unbiased estimators for causal effects. The standard assumption is strong ignorability, though it is often impossible to achieve the level of covariate balance that it requires. As such, researchers often settle for lesser balance levels within their datasets. However, these balance levels are generally insufficient to guarantee an unbiased estimate of the treatment effect without further assumptions. This article presents several extensions to the strong ignorability assumption that address this issue. Under these additional assumptions, specific levels of covariate balance are both necessary and sufficient for the treatment effect estimate to be unbiased. There is a trade‐off, however: as balance decreases, stronger assumptions are required to guarantee estimator unbiasedness. These results unify parametric and nonparametric adjustment methods for causal inference and are actualized by the Balance Optimization Subset Selection framework, which identifies the best level of balance that can be achieved within a dataset. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Naval Research Logistics 64: 323–344, 2017     

A bibliography of search theory and reconnaissance theory literature

This bibliography consists of 75 items on search theory and reconnaissance theory found in periodicals and technical reports. Each entry includes a short summary or a quotation from the pertinent abstract. The items are classified into one or more of the following categories: (1) General Discussion of Problems; (2) Allocation of Effort; (3) Game Theory Formulations; (4) Geometric Search Patterns; (5) Measures of Performance and (6) Miscellaneous.