The stochastic joint replenishment problem: A new policy,analysis, and insights

In this study, we propose a new parsimonious policy for the stochastic joint replenishment problem in a single‐location, N‐item setting. The replenishment decisions are based on both group reorder point‐group order quantity and the time since the last decision epoch. We derive the expressions for the key operating characteristics of the inventory system for both unit and compound Poisson demands. In a comprehensive numerical study, we compare the performance of the proposed policy with that of existing ones over a standard test bed. Our numerical results indicate that the proposed policy dominates the existing ones in 100 of 139 instances with comparably significant savings for unit demands. With batch demands, the savings increase as the stochasticity of demand size gets larger. We also observe that it performs well in environments with low demand diversity across items. The inventory system herein also models a two‐echelon setting with a single item, multiple retailers, and cross docking at the upper echelon. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Naval Research Logistics, 2006     

A branch‐and‐cut algorithm for the quay crane scheduling problem in a container terminal

The quay crane scheduling problem consists of determining a sequence of unloading and loading movements for cranes assigned to a vessel in order to minimize the vessel completion time as well as the crane idle times. Idle times originate from interferences between cranes since these roll on the same rails and a minimum safety distance must be maintained between them. The productivity of container terminals is often measured in terms of the time necessary to load and unload vessels by quay cranes, which are the most important and expensive equipment used in ports. We formulate the quay crane scheduling problem as a vehicle routing problem with side constraints, including precedence relationships between vertices. For small size instances our formulation can be solved by CPLEX. For larger ones we have developed a branch‐and‐cut algorithm incorporating several families of valid inequalities, which exploit the precedence constraints between vertices. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Naval Research Logistics, 2006     

美国海军水面舰艇导弹防空体系分析

分析了美国海军防空作战思想,在此前提下总结出美海军舰空导弹体系主要的作战任务,说明了美海军典型水面舰艇装备舰空导弹的情况,最后阐述了今后美舰空导弹的发展趋势。     

Designing rewards-based crowdfunding campaigns for strategic (but distracted) contributors

In rewards-based crowdfunding, entrepreneurs solicit donations from a large number of individual contributors. If total donations exceed a prespecified funding target, the entrepreneur distributes nonmonetary rewards to contributors; otherwise, their donations are refunded. We study how to design such campaigns when contributors choose not just whether to contribute, but also when to contribute. We show that strategic contribution behavior—when contributors intentionally delay until campaign success is likely—can arise from the combination of nonrefundable (potentially very small) hassle costs and the risk of campaign failure, and can explain pledging patterns commonly observed in crowdfunding. Furthermore, such delays do not hurt the entrepreneur if contributors are perfectly rational, but they do if contributors are distracted, that is, if they might fail to return to the campaign after an intentional delay. To mitigate this, we find that an entrepreneur can use a simple menu of rewards with a fixed number of units sold at a low price, and an unlimited number sold at a higher price; this segments contributors over time based on the information they observe upon arrival. We show that, despite its simplicity, such a menu performs well compared to a theoretically optimal menu consisting of an infinite number of different rewards and price levels under many conditions.     

改革国防科技评价制度,完善国防科技评价体系

国防科技评价是国家科技评价的组成部分,是国防科技管理的重要内容,是构建军民融合创新体系的内在要求。分析了国防科技评价的基本内涵,阐述了构建国防科技评价体系的总体设想,提出了改革国防科技评价制度的几点思考。研究认为,改革国防科技评价制度,完善国防科技评价体,要加强国防科技评价理论研究,重视国防科技评价机构建设,充分发挥第三方评价的作用,建立多元化的国防科技评价体系,完善国防科技专家选择机制,建立健全国防科技评价指标,加快国防科技评价人才培养,优化国防科技评价环境建设。     

The timing of contests

We develop a simple model to analyze the timing of contests. When the odds of winning a contest are exogenously given – we show that if either the players discount the future or if the total cost of contest is smaller in the future – there exist subgame perfect equilibria where both players settle, anticipating a contest in the future. With endogenous efforts, the aggregate efforts expanded in a contest are smaller if the contest occurs in the future when the relative effort productivities remain constant or diverge over time, thus creating scope for delay in contests. When the effort productivities converge over time, the total efforts may be greater under a future contest. As a consequence, players either settle over the two periods, or else they initiate a contest immediately.     

中国空间安全形势

随着中国在太空领域的不断崛起,太空地位不断提升的同时,也面临着各种各样的挑战,这些挑战既有源自传统政治领域的大国阻挠,也有来自外太空的人类共同威胁。为了应对这些威胁和挑战,保护中国的太空利益和国家利益,我们需要从多方面着手,多管齐下,以维护日益重要的中国国家太空利益。     

Determining optimal sizes of bounded batches with rejection via quadratic min‐cost flow

In this article, we consider a single machine scheduling problem, in which identical jobs are split into batches of bounded sizes. For each batch, it is allowed to produce less jobs than a given upper bound, that is, some jobs in a batch can be rejected, in which case a penalty is paid for each rejected job. The objective function is the sum of several components, including the sum of the completion times, total delivery cost, and total rejection cost. We reduce this problem to a min‐cost flow problem with a convex quadratic function and adapt Tamir's algorithm for its solution. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Naval Research Logistics 64: 217–224, 2017     

Optimizing usage and maintenance decisions for k‐out‐of‐n systems of moving assets

We consider an integrated usage and maintenance optimization problem for a k‐out‐of‐n system pertaining to a moving asset. The k‐out‐of‐n systems are commonly utilized in practice to increase availability, where n denotes the total number of parallel and identical units and k the number of units required to be active for a functional system. Moving assets such as aircraft, ships, and submarines are subject to different operating modes. Operating modes can dictate not only the number of system units that are needed to be active, but also where the moving asset physically is, and under which environmental conditions it operates. We use the intrinsic age concept to model the degradation process. The intrinsic age is analogous to an intrinsic clock which ticks on a different pace in different operating modes. In our problem setting, the number of active units, degradation rates of active and standby units, maintenance costs, and type of economic dependencies are functions of operating modes. In each operating mode, the decision maker should decide on the set of units to activate (usage decision) and the set of units to maintain (maintenance decision). Since the degradation rate differs for active and standby units, the units to be maintained depend on the units that have been activated, and vice versa. In order to minimize maintenance costs, usage and maintenance decisions should be jointly optimized. We formulate this problem as a Markov decision process and provide some structural properties of the optimal policy. Moreover, we assess the performance of usage policies that are commonly implemented for maritime systems. We show that the cost increase resulting from these policies is up to 27% for realistic settings. Our numerical experiments demonstrate the cases in which joint usage and maintenance optimization is more valuable. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Naval Research Logistics 64: 418–434, 2017     

Intelligence reform and the transformation of the state: the end of a French exception

ABSTRACT

This article argues that the intelligence sector is a privileged vantage point to observe and analyse a transformation of the State in France, as this transformation deeply affects the heart of the executive power and the French intelligence and security apparatus. Traditionally, intelligence was not conceived in France as a functional tool in the hands of the decision-maker but was rather defined as a ‘regalian power’. Intelligence activities were derived from a very specific conception of the State, and especially the particular notion of ‘reason of State’ (raison d’État). The current intelligence reform prompts speculation as to whether it represents more than a ‘simple’ functional reorganisation or in fact could signify that intelligence is now recognised as a tool in the hands of a ‘État de droit’ (‘liberal state’). The idea of a French ‘exceptionalism’ is addressed through a theoretical approach of the way France redefines intelligence and surveillance in relation with a major evolution of the notion of ‘reason of State’ itself. Then the article illustrates the assumption of a ‘lost tradition’ of reason of State through an analysis of the current reform of the intelligence sector in France. This reform is based on processes of rationalisation, centralization, modernisation and normalisation of both intelligence activities and intelligence services in France. As a conclusion, the article addresses the reactions to the January and November 2015 terrorist attacks in Paris, and asks whether resilience towards terrorism requires to accelerate the pace of the transformation of the French intelligence sector.