Dynamic pricing in a trade-in program with replacement and new customers

Trade-in programs have been widely adopted to enhance repeat purchase from replacement customers. Considering that a market consists of replacement and new segments, we study the joint and dynamic decisions on the selling price of new product (hereafter, “selling price”) and the trade-in price involved in the program. By adopting a vertical product differentiation choice model, we investigate two scenarios in this paper. In the base model, the manufacturer has sufficiently large production capacity to fulfill the customer demand. We characterize the structural properties of the joint pricing decisions and compare them with the optimal pricing policy under regular selling. We further propose a semi-dynamic trade-in program, under which the new product is sold at a fixed price and the trade-in price can be adjusted dynamically. Numerical experiments are conducted to evaluate the performance of the dynamic and semi-dynamic trade-in programs. In an extended model, we consider the scenario in which the manufacturer stocks a batch of new products in the beginning of the selling horizon and the inventory cannot be replenished. Following a revenue management framework, we characterize the structural properties with respect to time period and inventory level of new products.     

空间双体系绳系统展开阶段末端星姿态动力学分析

为了研究空间系绳系统展开过程中末端星的姿态运动,采用第二类拉格朗日方程建立系统展开及末端星角运动的数学模型,分析展开阶段末端星的姿态动力学特性。建模时将系绳末端连接的母星与子星视为尺寸不可忽略的刚体,且母星质量远大于子星质量,系绳视为有质量的刚性杆。利用该数学模型可以分析系绳系统的展开过程,研究影响末端星姿态运动的主要因素,包括姿态角初始扰动以及末端星动/静不对称性。仿真结果表明,系绳展开时末端星姿态角初始扰动及动静不对称性可能会导致姿态角失稳,出现系绳缠绕星体的情况。仿真结果可以为展开阶段末端星姿态控制提供参考。     

Dynamic pricing and matching in ride-hailing platforms

Ride-hailing platforms such as Uber, Lyft, and DiDi have achieved explosive growth and reshaped urban transportation. The theory and technologies behind these platforms have become one of the most active research topics in the fields of economics, operations research, computer science, and transportation engineering. In particular, advanced matching and dynamic pricing (DP) algorithms—the two key levers in ride-hailing—have received tremendous attention from the research community and are continuously being designed and implemented at industrial scales by ride-hailing platforms. We provide a review of matching and DP techniques in ride-hailing, and show that they are critical for providing an experience with low waiting time for both riders and drivers. Then we link the two levers together by studying a pool-matching mechanism called dynamic waiting (DW) that varies rider waiting and walking before dispatch, which is inspired by a recent carpooling product Express Pool from Uber. We show using data from Uber that by jointly optimizing DP and DW, price variability can be mitigated, while increasing capacity utilization, trip throughput, and welfare. We also highlight several key practical challenges and directions of future research from a practitioner's perspective.     

采用扩展有限元法的线式爆炸分离装置裂纹扩展分析

为了提高线式爆炸分离装置的安全性,本研究基于扩展有限元法,通过创建二维和三维动态裂纹扩展模型,探索了线式爆炸分离装置在爆轰波作用过程中的动态裂纹扩展和止裂机理。研究表明,分离壳体的裂纹扩展路径独立于裂纹初始角度;不考虑载荷时序时,二维和三维动态裂纹扩展的主方向分别沿着分离壳体的径向和环向;考虑载荷时序时,受不同区域应力波的联合作用,三维裂纹沿环向扩展的同时会沿着轴向扩展,但裂纹的扩展均不会影响到止裂槽以外的结构。所提方法和相应结论可为线式爆炸分离装置设计提供参考。     

考虑弹体动态特性的非奇异有限时间制导律

为满足导弹拦截机动目标时交会角约束和有限时间收敛的需求,建立了考虑弹体一阶动态特性的制导模型。把目标加速度视为有界外界干扰,同时结合非线性反步设计法中的动态面法,设计一种考虑弹体动态延迟的非奇异滑模制导律,并且证明了基于Lyapunov稳定性理论制导系统状态可渐进收敛到零。在所设计的制导律下,对单侧机动的低空高速目标进行仿真。仿真结果表明所设计的非奇异制导律可以有效降低弹体动态延迟带来的影响,而且具有较低的脱靶量与交会角误差;与考虑弹体动态特性和交会角约束的最优导引律相比,其具有更高的制导精度。     

基于实际飞行数据插值的INS/GNSS组合导航仿真轨迹发生器

针对INS/GNSS组合导航仿真中,捷联惯导系统陀螺、加速度计信号高精度模拟问题,提出了基于实际飞行数据插值的动态轨迹解析生成仿真算法。对转换到地心惯性坐标系中的载体姿态、位置和重力场数据进行关于时间的样条函数插值,得到载体坐标系下陀螺角速率、角增量以及加速度计比力积分增量的高精度分段解析表达式。使生成的陀螺、加速度计信号符合载体运动学和动力学特性,反映杆臂效应影响,同时与经事后处理的实测GNSS伪距、伪距率等数据特征保持一致。提出了四元数约束插值算法,可满足四元数解析插值时范数为1的约束限制条件。基于某实际无人机飞行数据,验证了所提出算法的有效性,完全满足组合导航动态仿真精度要求。该算法也适用于其他高精度高动态导航系统和刚体运动控制仿真中的角运动、线运动传感器信号模拟。     

Dynamic pricing and replenishment: Optimality,bounds, and asymptotics

In many applications, managers face the problem of replenishing and selling products during a finite time horizon. We investigate the problem of making dynamic and joint decisions on product replenishment and selling in order to improve profit. We consider a backlog scenario in which penalty cost (resulting from fulfillment delay) and accommodation cost (resulting from shortage at the end of the selling horizon) are incurred. Based on continuous‐time and discrete‐state dynamic programming, we study the optimal joint decisions and characterize their structural properties. We establish an upper bound for the optimal expected profit and develop a fluid policy by resorting to the deterministic version of the problem (ie, the fluid problem). The fluid policy is shown to be asymptotically optimal for the original stochastic problem when the problem size is sufficiently large. The static nature of the fluid policy and its lack of flexibility in matching supply with demand motivate us to develop a “target‐inventory” heuristic, which is shown, numerically, to be a significant improvement over the fluid policy. Scenarios with discrete feasible sets and lost‐sales are also discussed in this article.     

基于角色的仿真动态建模研究

提出的基于角色的仿真建模方法,详细论述了该方法的建模过程与步骤,阐述了利用角色来达成建模的本质。典型仿真应用表明,该方法在建立仿真动态模型方面是有效可行的,且其具有良好的通用性、封装性、异步并发性及多分辨率特性,能够很好地解决日益复杂的仿真动态模型的建模问题。     

滚动轴承外圈缺陷非线性动力学分析

为揭示故障轴承系统复杂的非线性动力学特征,建立了基于轴承外圈缺陷、接触非线性和间隙非线性的轴承系统非线性动力学微分方程,并采用数值方法对其求解,得到转子系统在不同转速、不同缺陷程度、不同阻尼下的相图、庞加莱图、分岔图等。研究结果表明,转速和缺陷程度是影响轴承系统非线性动力学特性的重要因素,随着转速和缺陷程度的不同,系统会产生周期、拟周期和混沌等多种非线性行为。     

BaTiO3的相温度曲线

根据BaTiO3的吉布斯自由能展开式,讨论了对称群Oh操作的所有不可约表示,考虑到不同不可约表示项的相互作用,并利用相稳定条件,推导出可能对称相的温度曲线。