The failure of defense planning in European Post-Communist Defense Institutions: ascertaining causation and determining solutions

By any objective measure, defense institutions in Central and Eastern Europe have all but universally been incapable of producing viable defense plans that are based on objective costing and operational planning data. This situation exists in spite the provision of considerable Western advice and assistance, let alone reporting to and receiving assessments by NATO’s International Staff under Partnership for Peace, as well as via the integrated defense planning and reporting systems. An explanation for this systematic failure across European post-Communist defense institutions can be found in the continued slow development of an over-arching policy framework which directs and approves all activities of the armed forces, as well as the de-centralization of financial decision-making down to capability providers. The essay ends with an examination of the adverse effects of the early introduction of planning programming, budgeting system (PPBS), have had on the development of effective policy and planning capabilities within these defense institutions.     

Strategic capacity decision‐making in a stochastic manufacturing environment using real‐time approximate dynamic programming

In this study, we illustrate a real‐time approximate dynamic programming (RTADP) method for solving multistage capacity decision problems in a stochastic manufacturing environment, by using an exemplary three‐stage manufacturing system with recycle. The system is a moderate size queuing network, which experiences stochastic variations in demand and product yield. The dynamic capacity decision problem is formulated as a Markov decision process (MDP). The proposed RTADP method starts with a set of heuristics and learns a superior quality solution by interacting with the stochastic system via simulation. The curse‐of‐dimensionality associated with DP methods is alleviated by the adoption of several notions including “evolving set of relevant states,” for which the value function table is built and updated, “adaptive action set” for keeping track of attractive action candidates, and “nonparametric k nearest neighbor averager” for value function approximation. The performance of the learned solution is evaluated against (1) an “ideal” solution derived using a mixed integer programming (MIP) formulation, which assumes full knowledge of future realized values of the stochastic variables (2) a myopic heuristic solution, and (3) a sample path based rolling horizon MIP solution. The policy learned through the RTADP method turned out to be superior to polices of 2 and 3. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Naval Research Logistics 2010     

求最大数目不相交多约束QoS路由的一种新方法

针对多约束QoS路由问题中从资源点到目的点的最大数目的不相交路由,文章给出了一种基于罚函数与整数规划的求满足QoS约束的最大数目的互不相交路由算法。该算法利用了路由模型的结构特性,使整数规划问题转化为线性规划问题,初步的算例表明算法是有效的。     

A combination of Lagrangian relaxation and column generation for order batching in steelmaking and continuous‐casting production

This article considers the order batching problem in steelmaking and continuous‐casting production. The problem is to jointly specify the slabs needed to satisfy each customer order and group all the slabs of different customer orders into production batches. A novel mixed integer programming model is formulated for the problem. Through relaxing the order assignment constraints, a Lagrangian relaxation model is then obtained. By exploiting the relationship between Lagrangian relaxation and column generation, we develop a combined algorithm that contains nested double loops. At the inner loop, the subgradient method is applied for approximating the Lagrangian dual problem and pricing out columns of the master problem corresponding to the linear dual form of the Lagrangian dual problem. At the outer loop, column generation is employed to solve the master problem exactly and adjust Lagrangian multipliers. Computational experiments are carried out using real data collected from a large steel company, as well as on large‐scaled problem instances randomly generated. The results demonstrate that the combined algorithm can obtain tighter lower bound and higher quality solution within an acceptable computation time as compared to the conventional Lagrangian relaxation algorithm. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Naval Research Logistics, 2011     

Concave envelopes of monomial functions over rectangles

The construction of convex and concave envelopes of real‐valued functions has been of interest in mathematical programming for over 3 decades. Much of this interest stems from the fact that convex and concave envelopes can play important roles in algorithms for solving various discrete and continuous global optimization problems. In this article, we use a simplicial subdivision tool to present and validate the formula for the concave envelope of a monomial function over a rectangle. Potential algorithmic applications of this formula are briefly indicated. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Naval Research Logistics, 2004     

A sequential dynamic pricing model and its applications

Consider a sequential dynamic pricing model where a seller sells a given stock to a random number of customers. Arriving one at a time, each customer will purchase one item if the product price is lower than her personal reservation price. The seller's objective is to post a potentially different price for each customer in order to maximize the expected total revenue. We formulate the seller's problem as a stochastic dynamic programming model, and develop an algorithm to compute the optimal policy. We then apply the results from this sequential dynamic pricing model to the case where customers arrive according to a continuous‐time point process. In particular, we derive tight bounds for the optimal expected revenue, and develop an asymptotically optimal heuristic policy. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Naval Research Logistics, 2004.     

Development programs for one‐shot systems using multiple‐state design reliability models

Design reliability at the beginning of a product development program is typically low, and development costs can account for a large proportion of total product cost. We consider how to conduct development programs (series of tests and redesigns) for one‐shot systems (which are destroyed at first use or during testing). In rough terms, our aim is to both achieve high final design reliability and spend as little of a fixed budget as possible on development. We employ multiple‐state reliability models. Dynamic programming is used to identify a best test‐and‐redesign strategy and is shown to be presently computationally feasible for at least 5‐state models. Our analysis is flexible enough to allow for the accelerated stress testing needed in the case of ultra‐high reliability requirements, where testing otherwise provides little information on design reliability change. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Naval Research Logistics, 2004     

Smalltalk-80 的形式语义研究

Smalltalk-80是原型的面向对象程序设计语言和环境。本文简要地介绍了Smalltalk-80的基本概念和抽象文法,给出了其形式模型,并基于该模型描述了Smalltalk-80的静态指称语义和动态指称语义。     

无人战斗机航路规划圆切线算法

通过对无人战斗机低空进入敌防区面临的各种威胁进行分析,建立了适用于圆切线算法的威胁场模型;由于可行方向法对威胁圆叠加时规划出的航路效果不理想,提出了圆的切线算法理论作为此航路规划方法的改进,采用随机产生威胁场的方法来模拟多变的战场环境,并且进行了理论分析,最后得出仿真结果.仿真证明,将两种方法结合规划出的飞行航线在航程上是比较理想的,而且路径规则的效果也得到了很大的提高.     

潜艇指控系统技术和发展分析

介绍和分析了国外潜艇指控系统的发展概况和技术特点,然后回顾了国内潜艇指控系统发展。从满足未来海军潜艇作战需求出发,论述了一体化建设对潜艇指挥体系的重要性及下一代潜艇指控系统的能力需求,提出了着重要解决的技术问题。