A novel modeling approach for express package carrier planning

Express package carrier networks have large numbers of heavily‐interconnected and tightly‐constrained resources, making the planning process difficult. A decision made in one area of the network can impact virtually any other area as well. Mathematical programming therefore seems like a logical approach to solving such problems, taking into account all of these interactions. The tight time windows and nonlinear cost functions of these systems, however, often make traditional approaches such as multicommodity flow formulations intractable. This is due to both the large number of constraints and the weakness of the linear programming (LP) relaxations arising in these formulations. To overcome these obstacles, we propose a model in which variables represent combinations of loads and their corresponding routings, rather than assigning individual loads to individual arcs in the network. In doing so, we incorporate much of the problem complexity implicitly within the variable definition, rather than explicitly within the constraints. This approach enables us to linearize the cost structure, strengthen the LP relaxation of the formulation, and drastically reduce the number of constraints. In addition, it greatly facilitates the inclusion of other stages of the (typically decomposed) planning process. We show how the use of templates, in place of traditional delayed column generation, allows us to identify promising candidate variables, ensuring high‐quality solutions in reasonable run times while also enabling the inclusion of additional operational considerations that would be difficult if not impossible to capture in a traditional approach. Computational results are presented using data from a major international package carrier. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Naval Research Logistics, 2008     

Optimal sensor placement for underwater threat detection

The optimization framework for optimal sensor placement for underwater threat detection has been developed. It considers single‐period and multiperiod detection models, each of which includes two components: detection algorithm and optimization problem for sensor placement. The detection algorithms for single‐period and multiperiod models are based on likelihood ratio and sequential testing, respectively. For the both models, the optimization problems use the principle of superadditive coverage, which is closely related to energy‐based and information‐based approaches. An algorithm for quasi‐regular sensor placement approximating solutions to the optimization problems has been developed based on corresponding continuous relaxations and a criterion for its applicability has been obtained. Numerical experiments have demonstrated that the algorithm consistently outperforms existing optimization techniques for optimal sensor placement.© 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Naval Research Logistics, 2008     

基于输出饱和条件下磁浮列车悬浮控制参数优化

低速磁浮列车利用电磁吸力支撑车体,相比轮轨列车具有噪音小、转弯半径小、爬坡能力强等优点。研究控制器输出饱和条件下悬浮系统的稳定性问题,可以避免由于电网电压约束而可能出现的失稳现象,提高了系统运行的可靠性。基于磁浮列车单点悬浮模型,使用电流-位置双环设计方法设计得到可稳定悬浮的控制算法。由于磁浮列车悬浮控制器的输出饱和环节,进一步提出了一种基于搜索极大椭球的控制参数优化方法,在不改变控制算法设计的前提下实现了参数优化。通过仿真和试验均验证了优化后的控制效果,有效指导了实际系统的工程调试。     

军队会计流程存在的问题及优化策略

在新军事变革的背景下,军队会计流程存在不适应新管理体制需要、信息技术应用对会计流程再造力度不够、军队会计科目设置影响流程等问题。本文从界定军队会计流程的含义入手,提出了优化军队会计流程、建立智能化军队会计信息系统的四项策略,即重塑军队会计流程体系、重构军队会计信息系统、调整军队会计科目体系以及完善各流程会计处理方法。优化军队会计流程、建设智能化军队会计信息系统,不仅能够反映军事经济活动的历史信息,还能为不同类型的信息使用者提供预测、决策等支持,并有利于改善军队会计核算质量,准确反映各类资产负债的价值信息和单位的真实财务状况,对于提高军队会计信息质量具有一定的借鉴意义。     

Appointment scheduling at a multidisciplinary outpatient clinic using stochastic programming

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the problem of constructing an appointment template for scheduling patients at a specific type of multidisciplinary outpatient clinic called an integrated practice unit (IPU). The focus is on developing and solving a stochastic optimization model for a back pain IPU in the face of random arrivals, an uncertain patient mix, and variable service times. The deterministic version of the problem is modeled as a mixed integer program with the objective of minimizing a weighted combination of clinic closing time (duration) and total patient waiting time (length of stay). A two‐stage stochastic program is then derived to account for the randomness and the sequential nature of the decisions. Although it was not possible to solve the two‐stage problem for even a limited number of scenarios, the wait‐and‐see (WS) problem was sufficiently tractable to provide a lower bound on the stochastic solution. The introduction of valid inequalities, limiting indices, and the use of special ordered sets helped to speed up the computations. A greedy heuristic was also developed to obtain solutions much more quickly. Out of practical considerations, it was necessary to develop appointment templates with time slots at fixed intervals, which are not available from the WS solution. The first to be derived was the expected value (EV) template that is used to find the expected value of the EV solution (EEV). This solution provides an upper bound on the objective function value of the two‐stage stochastic program. The average gap between the EEV and WS solutions was 18%. Results from extensive computational testing are presented for the EV template and for our adaptation of three other templates found in the literature. Depending on the relative importance of the two objective function metrics, the results demonstrate the trade‐off that exists between them. For the templates investigated, the “closing time” ranged from an average of 235 to 275 minutes for a 300‐minute session, while the corresponding “total patient time in clinic” ranged from 80 to 71 minutes.     

军事冲突中战术欺骗的一个优化模型

军事冲突中实施战术欺骗已成为信息战的一个重要手段.基于军事冲突中战术欺骗所要达到的目标以及欺骗手段的资源约束和效果影响,建立了一个使军事欺骗总体效能达到最大的战术欺骗优化模型.给出的一个应用例子说明了该模型和方法的可行性.     

基于遗传模拟退火算法的空袭兵力分配及优化

对遗传模拟退火算法中的交叉、变异操作进行了改进,并实施了最优保留策略,形成了改进遗传模拟退火算法.以突击效果最大化和兵力损失最小化为目标函数,以空袭兵力总量的限制、空袭兵器挂载类型的限制等为约束条件,建立了空袭兵力分配及优化模型.在考虑兵力分配模型特点的基础上,利用改进遗传模拟退火算法求解.通过与多目标数学规划和标准遗传算法优化进行的比较表明,该方法能够有效地解决带约束的多目标优化问题.     

巡航导弹攻击路径组的优化与评估

为保证对敌方目标实施多次有效攻击,巡航导弹攻击路径选择的关键在于寻找一组优化路径而不是一条优化路径(如果存在),既满足性能指标要求,又满足作战应用要求.在作战区域内任意两个匹配区之间飞行航迹已知(专题讨论)的情况下,就巡航导弹攻击路径组的优化与评估问题进行了探讨,分析了导弹作战运用要求和性能指标要求,建立了攻击路径组的优化与评估模型,计算结果表明:所给出优化与评估模型是可行的,能够满足巡航导弹实际作战要求.     

新疆高校师资结构现状及优化分析

师资队伍建设是高校整体建设的永恒主题。如何使师资队伍能适应社会主义市场经济发展的需要,如何使师资队伍具有最佳结构,这是我们亟待研究和解决的问题。本文分析了新疆高校师资结构现状和存在的问题及其主要原因,提出了优化新疆高校师资队伍结构的思路。