Designing and pricing menus of extended warranty contracts

Extended warranties provide “piece of mind” to a consumer in that product failures which occur after the base warranty expires are rectified at little or no cost. They also provide an additional source of revenue for manufacturers or third‐party providers, such as retailers or insurance providers, and help cultivate consumer loyalty. In this article, we analyze a number of extended warranty contracts which differ in design, including restrictions on deferrals and renewals. With the use of dynamic programming, we compute the optimal strategy for a consumer with perfect information and determine the optimal pricing policy for the provider given the consumer's risk characterization. We also provide insight into when different contracts should be issued. Finally, we illustrate how profits can be dramatically increased by offering menus of warranty contracts, as opposed to stand alone contracts, with the use of integer programming. Surprisingly, risk‐taking consumers provide the greatest benefit to offering menus. These insights can help a company develop a comprehensive warranty planning strategy for given products or product lines. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Naval Research Logistics 2009     

基于LBDL逻辑的抗DPA攻击电路设计方法

动态差分逻辑是一种典型的电路级差分功耗攻击(DPA)防护技术.这种技术通过使逻辑门保持恒定的翻转率来降低电路功耗与数据信号之间的相关性.介绍了一种新型的、基于查找表(Look-Up-Table,LUT)结构的动态差分逻辑(LBDL),以及基于这种逻辑的集成电路设计方法.该设计方法仅需在传统的半定制设计流程中添加少量的替换操作就可以实现 ,因而比其他完全需要全定制设计的动态差分逻辑具有更好的实用性.而相对同样适用于半定制实现的动态差分逻辑 WDDL(Wave Dynamic Differential Logic),LBDL逻辑解决了逻辑门翻转时刻与数据信号之间的相关性,从而比WDDL逻辑具有更好的功耗恒定性.实验结果表明,该设计方法能够有效实现具有抗DPA攻击性能的电路.     

Dynamic institutionalization: the foundations of Japan’s radioactive problem

Many have suggested that the true purpose behind Japan’s development of a closed nuclear-fuel cycle is to maintain the technical potential to develop nuclear weapons. However, closer examination of the development of Japan’s nuclear industry shows that, although Japan possesses advanced nuclear technologies, there has been no deliberate strategy to create a nuclear-weapon option. There is no “nuclear hedge.” To illustrate this point, this article presents a framework called “dynamic institutionalization” to explain the origins of Japan’s nuclear policies and the different sets of institutionalized pressures and constraints that have perpetuated these policies over time. Japan’s continued development of closed fuel-cycle technologies is primarily driven by domestic politics and the lack of a permanent spent-fuel management solution. On the other hand, Japan’s institutionalized nuclear forbearance is driven by the calculation that, as long as US extended deterrence remains credible, Japan’s security is best guaranteed through reliance on the US nuclear umbrella. By analytically untangling the policy of closed fuel-cycle development from the rationale for nuclear forbearance, this article provides a more nuanced view of the relationships between the domestic and international variables shaping Japan’s nuclear policies.     

Military Spending,Conflict and External Debt in Sub-Saharan Africa

The damaging economic effects of the debt crises on Africa in the late 1980s encouraged considerable research on the determinants of external debt in developing economies. Although sub-Saharan Africa's (SSA) debt was cut by two-thirds by 2008, through two debt relief programmes, debt in the region has since been rising at an increasingly rapid pace. This study provides an empirical analysis of the determinants of external debt in SSA over the period 1960–2016, using dynamic panel methods. It also considers two potentially important factors that have received relatively little attention. One is military spending, rarely considered, despite a number of well-publicised scandals over the procurement of unnecessary and expensive high-tech weapons systems. A second, is the possibility that the countries studied have been involved in conflict. The empirical results point to a positive impact of military spending on external debt, but with some evidence of heterogeneity across the countries. Furthermore, findings indicate that the positive effect of military expenditure on debt becomes more marked in countries that have been affected by conflict. These results imply that policies to improve security and reduce military spending could be beneficial in reducing external debt and, potentially, improving economic performance in the region.     

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     

基于工作流的GIS服务动态聚合方法、技术体系和参考模型研究

基于GIS服务的特点和动态服务聚合的应用实际,提出了一种基于工作流的GIS服务动态聚合实现方法,该方法通过引入服务群的概念,有效适应了GIS服务的动态变化性;提出了基于工作流的GIS服务聚合技术体系,界定了GIS服务聚合的研究内容和层次关系,为GIS服务动态聚合关键技术的研究提供了总体框架和顶层指导;参考工作流的研究成果,提出了动态服务聚合参考模型DSCRM,为开发聚合服务支撵平台以及在此基础上构造特定的服务聚合应用提供了可参考的计算模型.给出了一个GIS服务聚合应用实例来说明工作的可行性和有效性.     

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     

考虑扩散效应圆形隧洞热弹性耦合动力响应研究

利用S-H热弹性扩散的基本理论,研究了无限弹性介质中圆形隧洞表面受随时间变化的热冲击的动力响应问题.采用直接求解方法以避免势函数的引入,利用Laplace变换技术,求解热、力、化学耦合控制方程,获得了弹性介质中温度梯度、位移、应力和化学势的积分形式解.最后,利用Laplace逆变换得到数值结果,分析了热、力、化学耦合条件下弹性介质中温度梯度、应力、位移和化学势响应的分布规律.     

坦克火控系统自动跟踪功能关键技术

结合现代军事发展,分析了现代坦克火控系统发展自动跟踪技术的必要性;根据我军现装备的坦克火控系统所具有的自动跟踪功能,分析了自动跟踪的相关技术,电视跟踪技术的原理,图像匹配法的涵义;系统介绍了电视跟踪中图像匹配法识别和跟踪目标,介绍了目标自动跟踪系统对目标识别和判定的一种具体方法.