Flow‐shop batch scheduling with identical processing‐time jobs

In many practical situations of production scheduling, it is either necessary or recommended to group a large number of jobs into a relatively small number of batches. A decision needs to be made regarding both the batching (i.e., determining the number and the size of the batches) and the sequencing (of batches and of jobs within batches). A setup cost is incurred whenever a batch begins processing on a given machine. This paper focuses on batch scheduling of identical processing‐time jobs, and machine‐ and sequence‐independent setup times on an m‐machine flow‐shop. The objective is to find an allocation to batches and their schedule in order to minimize flow‐time. We introduce a surprising and nonintuitive solution for the problem. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Naval Research Logistics, 2004     

Sojourn times in a two‐stage queueing network with blocking

The model considered in this paper involves a tandem queue consisting of a sequence of two waiting lines. The main feature of our model is blocking, i.e., as soon as the second waiting line reaches a certain upper limit, the first line is blocked. The input of units to the tandem queue is the MAP (Markovian arrival process), and service requirements are of phase type. Our objective is to study the sojourn time distribution under the first‐come‐first‐serve discipline by analyzing the sojourn time through times until absorption in appropriately defined quasi‐birth‐and‐death processes and continuous‐time Markov chains. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Naval Research Logistics, 2004     

Bounding the optimal burn‐in time for a system with two types of failure

Burn‐in is a widely used method to improve the quality of products or systems after they have been produced. In this paper, we consider the problem of determining bounds to the optimal burn‐in time and optimal replacement policy maximizing the steady state availability of a repairable system. It is assumed that two types of system failures may occur: One is Type I failure (minor failure), which can be removed by a minimal repair, and the other is Type II failure (catastrophic failure), which can be removed only by a complete repair. Assuming that the underlying lifetime distribution of the system has a bathtub‐shaped failure rate function, upper and lower bounds for the optimal burn‐in time are provided. Furthermore, some other applications of optimal burn‐in are also considered. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Naval Research Logistics, 2004     

Two‐machine flow shop no‐wait scheduling with a nonavailability interval

We study a two‐machine flow shop scheduling problem with no‐wait in process, in which one of the machines is not available during a specified time interval. We consider three scenarios of handing the operation affected by the nonavailability interval. Its processing may (i) start from scratch after the interval, or (ii) be resumed from the point of interruption, or (iii) be partially restarted after the interval. The objective is to minimize the makespan. We present an approximation algorithm that for all these scenarios delivers a worst‐case ratio of 3/2. For the second scenario, we offer a 4/3‐approximation algorithm. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Naval Research Logistics, 2004     

Failure profiles of coherent systems

In this paper we first introduce and study the notion of failure profiles which is based on the concepts of paths and cuts in system reliability. The relationship of failure profiles to two notions of component importance is highlighted, and an expression for the density function of the lifetime of a coherent system, with independent and not necessarily identical component lifetimes, is derived. We then demonstrate the way that failure profiles can be used to establish likelihood ratio orderings of lifetimes of two systems. Finally we use failure profiles to obtain bounds, in the likelihood ratio sense, on the lifetimes of coherent systems with independent and not necessarily identical component lifetimes. The bounds are relatively easy to compute and use. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Naval Research Logistics, 2004     

最小二乘滤波在某型火控系统信息处理中的应用

为了提高某型火控系统对目标的反应时间和射击精度,需要对采集到的目标运动参数信息进行滤波。采用最小二乘滤波方法,通过对最小二乘滤波的分析处理,增加了修正序列,实现了接近自适应最小二乘滤波的功能,在滤波效果上能够完全满足系统要求。最后采用5点滤波实现方式对滤波效果进行了检测,实践证明最小二乘滤波在该型火控系统信息处理中取得了较好的效果,改进了该火控系统的性能。     

一种无师训练的模糊极小极大人工神经网络

提出了一种无师训练的fuzzymin max人工神经网络,它兼有一般fuzzymin max网与ART2网的优点,既弥补了fuzzymin max网不能自适应在线学习新类的缺陷,又消除了ART2网警戒门限过高的弊病.经模式识别仿真对比,对同样的输入数据,文中提出的网络用较低的警戒门限值即可达到ART2用很高的警戒门限值才能达到的分类效果,且计算量大大减少.得到的结论是:对模式识别而言,文中提出的网络比fuzzymin max网和ART2网更具有实用价值.     

Discrete‐time analysis of MAP/PH/1 multiclass general preemptive priority queue

We use the matrix‐geometric method to study the MAP/PH/1 general preemptive priority queue with a multiple class of jobs. A procedure for obtaining the block matrices representing the transition matrix P is presented. We show that the special upper triangular structure of the matrix R obtained by Miller [Computation of steady‐state probabilities for M/M/1 priority queues, Oper Res 29(5) (1981), 945–958] can be extended to an upper triangular block structure. Moreover, the subblock matrices of matrix R also have such a structure. With this special structure, we develop a procedure to compute the matrix R. After obtaining the stationary distribution of the system, we study two primary performance indices, namely, the distributions of the number of jobs of each type in the system and their waiting times. Although most of our analysis is carried out for the case of K = 3, the developed approach is general enough to study the other cases (K ≥ 4). © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Naval Research Logistics 50: 662–682, 2003.     

Realignment in the National Football League: Did they do it right?

The National Football League (NFL) in the United States expanded to 32 teams in 2002 with the addition of a team in Houston. At that point, the league was realigned into eight divisions, each containing four teams. We describe a branch‐and‐cut algorithm for minimizing the sum of intradivisional travel distances. We consider first the case where any team can be assigned to any division. We also consider imposing restrictions, such as aligning the AFC (American Football Conference) and the NFC (National Football Conference) separately or maintaining traditional rivalries. We show that the alignment chosen by the NFL does not minimize the sum of intradivisional travel distances, but that it is close to optimal for an alignment that aligns the NFC and AFC separately and imposes some additional restrictions. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Naval Research Logistics 50: 683–701, 2003.     

翼伞系统线目标归航方法

针对运载火箭助推器或子级无控坠落地面落点散布较大的情况,提出一种翼伞系统的线目标归航方法。建立了矩形边界下的归航计算模型,对点目标归航和线目标归航两种方法进行了收缩区域分析;对翼伞归航能力、落区散布边界特征对归航性能的影响进行对比分析,得到了相应的归航策略,并提出在较大散布区域下设置多个着陆区域的工程解决方案;建立动力学和操纵控制模型,对线目标归航过程进行了仿真。结果表明,所提方法对工程有一定的参考价值。