Scheduling a maintenance activity on parallel identical machines

We study a problem of scheduling a maintenance activity on parallel identical machines, under the assumption that all the machines must be maintained simultaneously. One example for this setting is a situation where the entire system must be stopped for maintenance because of a required electricity shut‐down. The objective is minimum flow‐time. The problem is shown to be NP‐hard, and moreover impossible to approximate unless P = NP. We introduce a pseudo‐polynomial dynamic programming algorithm, and show how to convert it into a bicriteria FPTAS for this problem. We also present an efficient heuristic and a lower bound. Our numerical tests indicate that the heuristic provides in most cases very close‐to‐optimal schedules. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Naval Research Logistics 2009     

Inventory policies for a make‐to‐order system with a perishable component and fixed ordering cost

We consider a make‐to‐order production system where two major components, one nonperishable (referred to as part 1) and one perishable (part 2), are needed to fulfill a customer order. In each period, replenishment decisions for both parts need to be made jointly before demand is realized and a fixed ordering cost is incurred for the nonperishable part. We show that a simple (s_n,S,S) policy is optimal. Under this policy, S along with the number of backorders at the beginning of a period if any and the availability of the nonperishable part (part 1) determines the optimal order quantity of the perishable part (part 2), while (s_n,S) guide when and how much of part 1 to order at each state. Numerical study demonstrates that the benefits of using the joint replenishment policy can be substantial, especially when the unit costs are high and/or the profit margin is low. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Naval Research Logistics, 2009     

Capacity expansion under a service‐level constraint for uncertain demand with lead times

For a service provider facing stochastic demand growth, expansion lead times and economies of scale complicate the expansion timing and sizing decisions. We formulate a model to minimize the infinite horizon expected discounted expansion cost under a service‐level constraint. The service level is defined as the proportion of demand over an expansion cycle that is satisfied by available capacity. For demand that follows a geometric Brownian motion process, we impose a stationary policy under which expansions are triggered by a fixed ratio of demand to the capacity position, i.e., the capacity that will be available when any current expansion project is completed, and each expansion increases capacity by the same proportion. The risk of capacity shortage during a cycle is estimated analytically using the value of an up‐and‐out partial barrier call option. A cutting plane procedure identifies the optimal values of the two expansion policy parameters simultaneously. Numerical instances illustrate that if demand grows slowly with low volatility and the expansion lead times are short, then it is optimal to delay the start of expansion beyond when demand exceeds the capacity position. Delays in initiating expansions are coupled with larger expansion sizes. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Naval Research Logistics, 2009     

Optimal inventory and dynamic admission policies for a retailer of seasonal products with affiliate programs and drop‐shipping

This article investigates the optimal inventory and admission policies for a “Clicks‐and‐Bricks” retailer of seasonal products that, in addition to selling through its own physical and online stores, also sells through third‐party websites by means of affiliate programs. Through postings on partners' webpages, an affiliate program allows a retailer to attract customers who would otherwise be missed. However, this retailer needs to pay a commission for each sale that originates from the website operators participating in the program. The retailer may also refer online orders to other sources (such as distributors and manufacturers) for fulfillment through a drop‐shipping agreement and thus earns commissions. This would be an option when, for example, the inventories at the physical stores were running low. Therefore, during the selling horizon, the retailer needs to dynamically control the opening/closing of affiliate programs and decide on the fulfillment option for online orders. On the basis of a discrete‐time dynamic programming model, the optimal admission policy of the retailer is investigated in this paper, and the structural properties of the revenue function are characterized. Numerical examples are given to show the revenue impact of optimal admission control. The optimal initial stocking decisions at the physical stores are also studied. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Naval Research Logistics 2009     

On online bin packing with LIB constraints

In many applications of packing, the location of small items below large items, inside the packed boxes, is forbidden. We consider a variant of the classic online one‐dimensional bin packing, in which items allocated to each bin are packed there in the order of arrival, satisfying the condition above. This variant is called online bin packing problem with LIB (larger item in the bottom) constraints. We give an improved analysis of First Fit showing that its competitive ratio is at most , and design a lower bound of 2 on the competitive ratio of any online algorithm. In addition, we study the competitive ratio of First Fit as a function of an upper bound (where d is a positive integer) on the item sizes. Our upper bound on the competitive ratio of First Fit tends to 2 as d grows, whereas the lower bound of two holds for any value of d. Finally, we consider several natural and well known algorithms, namely, Best Fit, Worst Fit, Almost Worst Fit, and Harmonic, and show that none of them has a finite competitive ratio for the problem. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Naval Research Logistics, 2009     

基于信息融合技术的复合式火灾探测器

在火灾探测中对单一的火灾特征参数信息进行判断和识别的探测器,易受到环境的干扰,限制了其探测性能,系统的高误报率问题比较突出;复合式火灾探测器采用信息融合技术进行多火灾特征参数信息的判断和识别,提高了火灾探测的可靠性和准确性。介绍了复合式火灾探测器中多传感器的选择。结合火灾探测独特的三层结构（数据层、特征层、决策层）讨论了数据融合技术在火灾探测系统中的应用,并对多传感器在数据层信息融合的模型结构进行了归纳。     

基于离线文本独立的笔迹鉴别系统设计

笔迹鉴别是通过分析手写字符的书写风格来判断书写人身份的一门技术,利用改进型多通道Gabor滤波器来提取笔迹图像的纹理特征,用最邻近分类器进行分类。本设计中采集了12个人的不同笔迹,取得了较好的结果。     

混沌Lurie系统同步在保密通信中的应用

鉴于Lurie系统在工程中的普遍性,研究了混沌Lurie系统同步在保密通信中的应用.以Lyapunov稳定性理论为基础,通过求解一个Riccati方程,给出同步控制律,并将其应用于通过混沌掩盖实现保密通信的驱动一响应系统.仿真表明,即使传输幅度较大的信息信号,混沌Lurie系统也能对其实现较好的掩盖,驱动一响应系统能够迅速同步,并且同步过程没有超调或振荡.     

军事信息系统的互操作性研究*

为了正确理解和准确评测军事信息系统的互操作性,分析比较了军事信息系统互操作性的不同定义和内涵,讨论了军事信息系统的互操作性分析方法,探讨了军事信息系统互操作性建模方法,分析了互操作性与系统安全脆弱性之间的关系,给出了军事信息系统互操作性研究的几点建议.     

PD反馈特征结构配置在最优控制问题中的应用

考虑了二阶线性系统的比例微分(PD)反馈特征结构配置问题以及其在最优控制问题中的应用。基于比例微分特征结构配置参数化方法,将二阶线性系统的最优控制问题转化为一个便于求解的有约束条件的极小值问题,并给出了相应的求解算法。三自由度质量弹簧阻尼系统算例及其仿真结果表明所提算法简单、有效。