Supply chain coordination with product line design and a revenue sharing scheme

Many manufacturers sell their products through retailers and share the revenue with those retailers. Given this phenomenon, we build a stylized model to investigate the role of revenue sharing schemes in supply chain coordination and product variety decisions. In our model, a monopolistic manufacturer serves two segments of consumers, which are distinguished by their willingness to pay for quality. In the scenario with exogenous revenue sharing ratios, when the potential gain from serving the low segment is substantial (e.g., the low‐segment consumers' willingness to pay is high enough or the low segment takes a large enough proportion of the market), the retailer is better off abandoning the revenue sharing scheme. Moreover, when the potential gain from serving the low (high) segment is substantial enough, the manufacturer finds it profitable to offer a single product. Furthermore, when revenue sharing ratios are endogenous, we divide our analysis into two cases, depending on the methods of cooperation. When revenue sharing ratios are negotiated at the very beginning, the decentralized supply chain causes further distortion. This suggests that the central premise of revenue sharing—the coordination of supply chains—may be undermined if supply chain parties meticulously bargain over it.     

Optimal allocation of minimal repairs in parallel and series systems

In reliability engineering, the concept of minimal repair describes that the repair brings the failed unit (eg, system or component) to the situation which is same as it was just before the failure. With the help of the well‐known Gamma‐Poisson relationship, this paper investigates optimal allocation strategies of minimal repairs for parallel and series systems through implementing stochastic comparisons of various allocation policies in terms of the hazard rate, the reversed hazard rate, and the likelihood ratio orderings. Numerical examples are presented to illustrate these findings as well. These results not only strengthen and generalize some known ones in the seminal work of Shaked and Shanthikumar, but also solve the open problems proposed by Chahkandi et al.'s study and Arriaza et al.'s study.     

Single‐machine scheduling with deadlines to minimize the total weighted late work

We consider scheduling a set of jobs with deadlines to minimize the total weighted late work on a single machine, where the late work of a job is the amount of processing of the job that is scheduled after its due date and before its deadline. This is the first study on scheduling with the late work criterion under the deadline restriction. In this paper, we show that (i) the problem is unary NP‐hard even if all the jobs have a unit weight, (ii) the problem is binary NP‐hard and admits a pseudo‐polynomial‐time algorithm and a fully polynomial‐time approximation scheme if all the jobs have a common due date, and (iii) some special cases of the problem are polynomially solvable.     

The building evacuation problem with shared information

In this article, the Building Evacuation Problem with Shared Information (BEPSI) is formulated as a mixed integer linear program, where the objective is to determine the set of routes along which to send evacuees (supply) from multiple locations throughout a building (sources) to the exits (sinks) such that the total time until all evacuees reach the exits is minimized. The formulation explicitly incorporates the constraints of shared information in providing online instructions to evacuees, ensuring that evacuees departing from an intermediate or source location at a mutual point in time receive common instructions. Arc travel time and capacity, as well as supply at the nodes, are permitted to vary with time and capacity is assumed to be recaptured over time. The BEPSI is shown to be NP‐hard. An exact technique based on Benders decomposition is proposed for its solution. Computational results from numerical experiments on a real‐world network representing a four‐story building are given. Results of experiments employing Benders cuts generated in solving a given problem instance as initial cuts in addressing an updated problem instance are also provided. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Naval Research Logistics, 2008     

Dynamic inventory management with cash flow constraints

In this article, we consider a classic dynamic inventory control problem of a self‐financing retailer who periodically replenishes its stock from a supplier and sells it to the market. The replenishment decisions of the retailer are constrained by cash flow, which is updated periodically following purchasing and sales in each period. Excess demand in each period is lost when insufficient inventory is in stock. The retailer's objective is to maximize its expected terminal wealth at the end of the planning horizon. We characterize the optimal inventory control policy and present a simple algorithm for computing the optimal policies for each period. Conditions are identified under which the optimal control policies are identical across periods. We also present comparative statics results on the optimal control policy. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Naval Research Logistics 2008     

分布式系统设计中的互斥问题

介绍了互斥问题的基本概念,并针对分布式系统设计中的互斥问题分析了非基于令牌和基于令牌的两种解决方案.通过对典型算法的分析,有助于对分布式系统形成可操作的数学模型.     

A decision support system for the procurement of military equipment

The use of life-cycle costs in procurement is limited by the accuracy of cost estimates and assessments of availability risks under the conditions generating costs. Critical to these problems are the needs and responses of equipment to maintenance and repair. Using transition probabilities to define the relationships between serviceability and maintenance and repairs, this article develops a comprehensive decision support system for military procurement. It uses a dynamic programming model to determine the least-cost set of maintenance and repair decisions, where adjustments are included for warranty conditions, time value of money, the opportunity costs of equipment failure, and the end-of-cycle salvage values or disposal costs. The system allows users to define working and failed states, create their own rules or indicators of availability from estimates of state probabilities and establish thresholds of risk acceptability.     

积极探索"三自"管理不断推动学生管理方式的改革

"三自"管理是适应当前形势发展需要的一种新型学生工作管理方式,对推动学生管理方式的改革,培养社会所需的创新人才,具有十分重要的意义.     

高功率微波对 YBCO 超导材料临界电流密度Jc 的影响

用固相反应法制备了三组123相YBCO超导块材,利用高功率微波对三组样品进行辐照处理,分别测量其临界电流密度Jc,实验结果表明,适当的微波辐照有利于提高超导样品的临界电流密度Jc,一次照射与未照射的样品相比较,Jc提高了近一个数量级.     

一类不确定大系统的分散变结构模型跟随控制

针对一类具有不确定参数和外界扰动的非线性大系统 ,在子系统互连项上界具有多项式形式的条件下 ,提出了一种分散变结构模型跟随控制器设计方案。该控制器不需要未知参数变化、外界扰动以及子系统互连上界的先验信息 ,能够通过自适应率对上述信息进行在线估计。在保证闭环大系统渐近稳定的条件下 ,同时实现了各个子系统滑动模态的存在性和可达性。理论分析和仿真结果验证了本文所提方案的有效性