Analyzing the effect of the inventory policy on order and inventory variability with linear control theory

In this paper we apply linear control theory to study the effect of various inventory policies on order and inventory variability, which are key drivers of supply chain performance. In particular, we study a two-echelon supply chain with a stationary demand pattern under the influence of three inventory policies: an inventory-on-hand policy that bases orders on the visible inventory at an installation, an installation-stock policy that bases orders on the inventory position (on-hand plus on-order inventory) at an installation, and an echelon-stock policy that bases orders on the inventory position at that installation and all downstream installations. We prove analytically that the inventory-on-hand policy is unstable in practical settings, confirming analytically what has been observed in experimental settings and in practice. We also prove that the installation-stock and echelon-stock policies are stable and analyze their effect on order and inventory fluctuation. Specifically, we show the general superiority of the echelon-stock in our setting and demonstrate analytically the effect of forecasting parameters on order and inventory fluctuations, confirming the results in other research.     

Systems of generalized quasivariational inclusions problems with applications to variational analysis and optimization problems

In this paper, we study an existence theorem of systems of generalized quasivariational inclusions problem. By this result, we establish the existence theorems of solutions of systems of generalized equations, systems of generalized vector quasiequilibrium problem, collective variational fixed point, systems of generalized quasiloose saddle point, systems of minimax theorem, mathematical program with systems of variational inclusions constraints, mathematical program with systems of equilibrium constraints and systems of bilevel problem and semi-infinite problem with systems of equilibrium problem constraints. This research was supported by the National Science Council of the Republic of China.     

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本文研究了独立随机变量之和的绝对矩的几个性质, 其中包括$\ep|X+Y|-\ep|X-Y|$的表达式, 这里$X$和$Y$是相互独立的随机变量.     

Linear least squares problems with data over incomplete grids

The paper addresses bivariate surface fitting problems, where data points lie on the vertices of a rectangular grid. Efficient and stable algorithms can be found in the literature to solve such problems. If data values are missing at some grid points, there exists a computational method for finding a least squares spline by fixing appropriate values for the missing data. We extended this technique to arbitrary least squares problems as well as to linear least squares problems with linear equality constraints. Numerical examples are given to show the effectiveness of the technique presented. AMS subject classification (2000)  65D05, 65D07, 65D10, 65F05, 65F20     

Estimating tail probabilities of heavy tailed distributions with asymptotically zero relative error

Efficient estimation of tail probabilities involving heavy tailed random variables is amongst the most challenging problems in Monte-Carlo simulation. In the last few years, applied probabilists have achieved considerable success in developing efficient algorithms for some such simple but fundamental tail probabilities. Usually, unbiased importance sampling estimators of such tail probabilities are developed and it is proved that these estimators are asymptotically efficient or even possess the desirable bounded relative error property. In this paper, as an illustration, we consider a simple tail probability involving geometric sums of heavy tailed random variables. This is useful in estimating the probability of large delays in M/G/1 queues. In this setting we develop an unbiased estimator whose relative error decreases to zero asymptotically. The key idea is to decompose the probability of interest into a known dominant component and an unknown small component. Simulation then focuses on estimating the latter ‘residual’ probability. Here we show that the existing conditioning methods or importance sampling methods are not effective in estimating the residual probability while an appropriate combination of the two estimates it with bounded relative error. As a further illustration of the proposed ideas, we apply them to develop an estimator for the probability of large delays in stochastic activity networks that has an asymptotically zero relative error.      

一类死区非线性输入系统的自适应模糊控制

针对一类具有死区非线性输入的非线性系统,基于滑模控制的基本原理,利用II型模糊逻辑系统对未知函数进行在线逼近,提出了一种具有监督器的自适应模糊滑模控制方法。该方法通过监督控制器保证闭环系统所有信号有界,并通过引入最优逼近误差的自适应补偿项来消除建模误差的影响。通过理论分析,证明了跟踪误差收敛到零。     

Computing Aviation Sparing Policies: Solving a Large Nonlinear Integer Program

Deployed US Navy aircraft carriers must stock a large number of spare parts to support the various types of aircraft embarked on the ship. The sparing policy determines the spares that will be stocked on the ship to keep the embarked aircraft ready to fly. Given a fleet of ten or more aircraft carriers and a cost of approximately 50 million dollars per carrier plus the cost of spares maintained in warehouses in the United States, the sparing problem constitutes a significant portion of the Navy’s resources. The objective of this work is to find a minimum-cost sparing policy that meets the readiness requirements of the embarked aircraft. This is a very large, nonlinear, integer optimization problem. The cost function is piecewise linear and convex while the constraint mapping is highly nonlinear. The distinguishing characteristics of this problem from an optimization viewpoint are that a large number of decision variables are required to be integer and that the nonlinear constraint functions are essentially “black box” functions; that is, they are very difficult (and expensive) to evaluate and their derivatives are not available. Moreover, they are not convex. Integer programming problems with a large number of variables are difficult to solve in general and most successful approaches to solving nonlinear integer problems have involved linear approximation and relaxation techniques that, because of the complexity of the constraint functions, are inappropriate for attacking this problem. We instead employ a pattern search method to each iteration of an interior point-type algorithm to solve the relaxed version of the problem. From the solution found by the pattern search on each interior point iteration, we begin another pattern search on the integer lattice to find a good integer solution. The best integer solution found across all interations is returned as the optimal solution. The pattern searches are distributed across a local area network of non-dedicated, heterogeneous computers in an office environment, thus, drastically reducing the time required to find the solution.     

The Cross-Entropy Method for Continuous Multi-Extremal Optimization

In recent years, the cross-entropy method has been successfully applied to a wide range of discrete optimization tasks. In this paper we consider the cross-entropy method in the context of continuous optimization. We demonstrate the effectiveness of the cross-entropy method for solving difficult continuous multi-extremal optimization problems, including those with non-linear constraints.      

动态环境约束下企业的资本积累

本文讨论动态环境约束下企业的动态投资行为,拓广了文献[4]的结果.为了使讨论的问题更符合实际情况,本文假设政府设定的污染排放上限是与企业的规模大小有关,即假设污染排放上限是生产资本的函数,讨论动态环境约束下企业的最佳动态投资行为,并为政府制定污染排放政策提供依据.