采用SHLPN分析特种车载总线网络可靠性

针对特种车载总线网络可靠性难以评估的问题,提出采用随机高级Petri网(Stochastic High-level Petri Net,SHLPN)分析特种车载总线网络可靠性。深入分析特种车载总线网络故障模式的基础上,将其等效为冗余总线控制器模块、远程终端模块和冗余链路模块的串联,分别建立各个模块的SHLPN模型,得到了各个模块的稳态可用度计算式,进而综合得到特种车载总线网络的稳态可用度计算式。最后,实例分析验证了所提方法的有效性。     

The solution to an open problem for a caching game

In a caching game introduced by Alpern et al. (Alpern et al., Lecture notes in computer science (2010) 220–233) a Hider who can dig to a total fixed depth normalized to 1 buries a fixed number of objects among n discrete locations. A Searcher who can dig to a total depth of h searches the locations with the aim of finding all of the hidden objects. If he does so, he wins, otherwise the Hider wins. This zero‐sum game is complicated to analyze even for small values of its parameters, and for the case of 2 hidden objects has been completely solved only when the game is played in up to 3 locations. For some values of h the solution of the game with 2 objects hidden in 4 locations is known, but the solution in the remaining cases was an open question recently highlighted by Fokkink et al. (Fokkink et al., Search theory: A game theoretic perspective (2014) 85–104). Here we solve the remaining cases of the game with 2 objects hidden in 4 locations. We also give some more general results for the game, in particular using a geometrical argument to show that when there are 2 objects hidden in n locations and n→∞, the value of the game is asymptotically equal to h/n for h≥n/2. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Naval Research Logistics 63: 23–31, 2016     

The probability of the existence of a feasible flow in a stochastic transportation network

Stochastic transportation networks arise in various real world applications, for which the probability of the existence of a feasible flow is regarded as an important performance measure. Although the necessary and sufficient condition for the existence of a feasible flow represented by an exponential number of inequalities is a well‐known result in the literature, the computation of the probability of all such inequalities being satisfied jointly is a daunting challenge. The state‐of‐the‐art approach of Prékopa and Boros, Operat Res 39 (1991) 119–129 approximates this probability by giving its lower and upper bounds using a two‐part procedure. The first part eliminates all redundant inequalities and the second gives the lower and upper bounds of the probability by solving two well‐defined linear programs with the inputs obtained from the first part. Unfortunately, the first part may still leave many non‐redundant inequalities. In this case, it would be very time consuming to compute the inputs for the second part even for small‐sized networks. In this paper, we first present a model that can be used to eliminate all redundant inequalities and give the corresponding computational results for the same numerical examples used in Prékopa and Boros, Operat Res 39 (1991) 119–129. We also show how to improve the lower and upper bounds of the probability using the multitree and hypermultitree, respectively. Furthermore, we propose an exact solution approach based on the state space decomposition to compute the probability. We derive a feasible state from a state space and then decompose the space into several disjoint subspaces iteratively. The probability is equal to the sum of the probabilities in these subspaces. We use the 8‐node and 15‐node network examples in Prékopa and Boros, Operat Res 39 (1991) 119–129 and the Sioux‐Falls network with 24 nodes to show that the space decomposition algorithm can obtain the exact probability of these classical examples efficiently. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Naval Research Logistics 63: 479–491, 2016     

Network design for time‐constrained delivery

To meet customer demand, delivery companies are offering an increasing number of time‐definite services. In this article, we examine the strategic design of delivery networks which can efficiently provide these services. Because of the high cost of direct connections, we focus on tree‐structured networks. As it may not be possible to identify a tree‐structured network that satisfies all of the delivery guarantees, we allow these guarantees to be violated but seek to minimize the sum of the violations. We establish the complexity of the problem and exploit an empirically identified solution structure to create new neighborhoods which improve solution values over more general neighborhood structures. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Naval Research Logistics, 2008     

On the application and extension of system signatures in engineering reliability

Following a review of the basic ideas in structural reliability, including signature‐based representation and preservation theorems for systems whose components have independent and identically distributed (i.i.d.) lifetimes, extensions that apply to the comparison of coherent systems of different sizes, and stochastic mixtures of them, are obtained. It is then shown that these results may be extended to vectors of exchangeable random lifetimes. In particular, for arbitrary systems of sizes m < n with exchangeable component lifetimes, it is shown that the distribution of an m‐component system's lifetime can be written as a mixture of the distributions of k‐out‐of‐n systems. When the system has n components, the vector of coefficients in this mixture representation is precisely the signature of the system defined in Samaniego, IEEE Trans Reliabil R–34 (1985) 69–72. These mixture representations are then used to obtain new stochastic ordering properties for coherent or mixed systems of different sizes. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Naval Research Logistics, 2008     

微弱正弦信号在有噪声的FN神经元模型中的传输特性研究

长期以来弄清神经系统中的信号是如何传输的一直是广大研究人员努力的目标.针对一种被普遍研究的神经元简化模型--FitzHugh-nagumo(FN)模型,采用二阶随机龙格-库塔算法分析了该模型对加性噪声和微弱正弦信号的响应特性.时域和频域的统计参数表明适当强度的噪声有利于信号的传输,存在随机共振现象,即与噪声强度关联的输出信噪比曲线为倒钟形;另外值得关注的是,与正弦信号频率关联的输出信噪比曲线也为倒钟形,分析可见正弦信号的无量纲频率在区间0.2～0.8时模型的输出信噪比最大,表明该神经元模型有频率敏感性,即更易于检测到该范围内的弱信号.上述结果与生物学的发现是一致的,将有助于进一步揭示周期信号在神经元中的传输方法,建立更加准确的神经元数学模型.     

An approximate dynamic programing approach to the development of heuristics for the scheduling of impatient jobs in a clearing system

A single server is faced with a collection of jobs of varying duration and urgency. Each job has a random lifetime during which it is available for nonpreemptive service. Should a job's lifetime expire before its service begins then it is lost from the system unserved. The goal is to schedule the jobs for service to maximize the expected number served to completion. Two heuristics have been proposed in the literature. One (labeled π^S) operates a static priority among the job classes and works well in a “no premature job loss” limit, whereas the second (π^M) is a myopic heuristic which works well when lifetimes are short. Both can exhibit poor performance for problems at some distance from the regimes for which they were designed. We develop a robustly good heuristic by an approximative approach to the application of a policy improvement step to the asymptotically optimal heuristic π^S, in which we use a fluid model to obtain an approximation for the value function of π^S. The performance of the proposed heuristic is investigated in an extensive numerical study. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Naval Research Logistics 2010     

Route optimization for multiple searchers

We consider a discrete time‐and‐space route‐optimization problem across a finite time horizon in which multiple searchers seek to detect one or more probabilistically moving targets. This article formulates a novel convex mixed‐integer nonlinear program for this problem that generalizes earlier models to situations with multiple targets, searcher deconfliction, and target‐ and location‐dependent search effectiveness. We present two solution approaches, one based on the cutting‐plane method and the other on linearization. These approaches result in the first practical exact algorithms for solving this important problem, which arises broadly in military, rescue, law enforcement, and border patrol operations. The cutting‐plane approach solves many realistically sized problem instances in a few minutes, while existing branch‐and‐bound algorithms fail. A specialized cut improves solution time by 50[percnt] in difficult problem instances. The approach based on linearization, which is applicable in important special cases, may further reduce solution time with one or two orders of magnitude. The solution time for the cutting‐plane approach tends to remain constant as the number of searchers grows. In part, then, we overcome the difficulty that earlier solution methods have with many searchers. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Naval Research Logistics, 2010     

A general strategic capacity planning model under demand uncertainty

Capacity planning decisions affect a significant portion of future revenue. In equipment intensive industries, these decisions usually need to be made in the presence of both highly volatile demand and long capacity installation lead times. For a multiple product case, we present a continuous‐time capacity planning model that addresses problems of realistic size and complexity found in current practice. Each product requires specific operations that can be performed by one or more tool groups. We consider a number of capacity allocation policies. We allow tool retirements in addition to purchases because the stochastic demand forecast for each product can be decreasing. We present a cluster‐based heuristic algorithm that can incorporate both variance reduction techniques from the simulation literature and the principles of a generalized maximum flow algorithm from the network optimization literature. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Naval Research Logistics, 2006     

Effects of cueing in cooperative search

We consider the effects of cueing in a cooperative search mission that involves several autonomous agents. Two scenarios are discussed: one in which the search is conducted by a number of identical search‐and‐engage vehicles and one where these vehicles are assisted by a search‐only (reconnaissance) asset. The cooperation between the autonomous agents is facilitated via cueing, i.e., the information transmitted to the agents by a searcher that has just detected a target. The effect of cueing on the target detection probability is derived from first principles using a Markov chain analysis. In particular, it is demonstrated that the benefit of cueing on the system's effectiveness is bounded. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Naval Research Logistics, 2006