Study on the Collapse of Pin-Reinforced Foam Sandwich Panel Cores

New fabrication technologies now allow for hybrid sandwich structures, known as X-core, to be manufactured. The X-core panels consist of a pin reinforced polymer foam core with carbon fiber face sheets. Carbon fiber or metallic (Titanium/Steel) pins are inserted into the foam core in the out-of-plane direction and extend from face sheet to face sheet. The through thickness three-point simply supported bending behavior of these panels is used to evaluate the collapse characteristics of the panels. Explicit experimental observations are used to calibrate analytical energy balance models describing the panel collapse as a function of geometry and properties. The mechanical response of X-core sandwich panels is compared to current sandwich materials for material selection.     

Void fraction measurement by X-ray absorption

An X-ray tube and scintillation detectors were mounted on test pipes containing static voids of air–water mixture. Due to fluctuations in the X-ray tube output, void fraction measurements were carried out by using two detectors, one as a reference and the other as a void monitor. The intensity of a narrow (30–100 kV) X-ray beam transmitted through test pipes of different I.D. was measured to obtain the void fraction. The uncertainty in measuring static void fraction, was found to decrease as the void fraction increases, and to increase as X-ray energy increases. It was found that for a certain test-section pipe diameter, there exist an optimum X-ray energy that gives a minimum uncertainty in void fraction measurement.     

基于生命期模型的无线传感器网络信道分配博弈算法

针对无线传感器网络中节点因干扰过大导致重传能耗增加, 进而节点过早失效、网络生命期缩短的问题, 根据网络拓扑信息和路由信息设计节点的负载模型, 从而构建了节点的生命期模型. 然后利用博弈论将路径增益、交叉干扰和节点生命期等性能参数融入到效益函数中, 构建信道分配博弈模型. 理论分析证明该博弈模型存在纳什均衡. 进而运用最佳回应策略, 在所构建的信道分配博弈模型的基础上, 设计了一种优化网络生命期的抗干扰信道分配算法. 该算法使节点在选择信道时避免与网络中交叉干扰较大的节点和生命期较小的节点使用相同信道, 实现干扰小、能耗低且均衡的信道选择. 理论分析与仿真结果证明该算法最终能够快速地收敛到纳什均衡, 且具有较小的信息复杂度, 从而减小算法本身的通信能耗. 同时, 该算法具有良好的抗干扰性和信道均衡性, 能够有效地延长网络生命期.     

Optimal assets allocation and benefit outgo policies of DC pension plan with compulsory conversion claims

In this paper, we study optimal asset allocation and benefit outgo policies of DC (defined contribution) pension plan. We extend He and Liang model (2013a,b) to describe dynamics of individual fund scale during distribution period. The fund scale is affected by investment return, benefit outgo and mortality credit. The management of the pension plan controls the asset allocation and benefit outgo policies to achieve the objective of pension members. The goal of the management is to minimize accumulated deviations between the actual benefit outgo and a pre-set target during the whole distribution period. The performance function (criterion) is the weighted average of the square and linear deviations to express more penalty on negative deviation than positive deviation. Using HJB (Hamilton–Jacobi–Bellman) equations and variational inequality methods, the closed-forms of the optimal policies are derived. The counterintuitive effect of the optimal proportion allocated in the risky asset with respect to the fund scale is also derived, and the optimal benefit outgo has the form of the spread method. Moreover, we use Monte Carlo Methods (MCM) to analyze economic behaviors of the optimal asset allocation and benefit outgo policies.     

Allocating fixed costs and common revenue via data envelopment analysis

An issue of considerable importance involves the allocation of fixed costs or common revenue among a set of competing entities in an equitable way. Based on the data envelopment analysis (DEA) theory, this paper proposes new methods for (i) allocating fixed costs to decision making units (DMUs) and (ii) distributing common revenue among DMUs, in such a way that the relative efficiencies of all DMUs remain unchanged and the allocations should reflect the relative efficiencies and the input-output scales of individual DMUs. To illustrate our methods, numerical results for an example are described in this paper.     

A system-theoretic model for cooperation, interaction and allocation

A system-theoretic approach to cooperation, interaction and allocation is presented that simplifies, unifies and extends the results on classical cooperative games and their generalizations. In particular, a general Weber theory of linear values is obtained and a new theory for local cooperation and general interaction indices is established. The model is dynamic and based on the notion of states of cooperation that change under actions of agents. Careful distinction between “local” states of cooperation and general “system” states leads to a notion of entropy for arbitrary non-negative and efficient allocations and thus to a new information-theoretic criterion for fairness of allocation mechanisms. Shapley allocations, for instance, are exhibited as arising from random walks with maximal entropy. For a large class of cooperation systems, a characterization of game symmetries in terms of λ-values is given. A concept for cores and Weber sets is proposed and it is shown that a Weber set of a game with selection structure always contains the core.     

Complexity analysis of an assignment problem with controllable assignment costs and its applications in scheduling

We extend the classical linear assignment problem to the case where the cost of assigning agent j to task i is a multiplication of task i’s cost parameter by a cost function of agent j. The cost function of agent j is a linear function of the amount of resource allocated to the agent. A solution for our assignment problem is defined by the assignment of agents to tasks and by a resource allocation to each agent. The quality of a solution is measured by two criteria. The first criterion is the total assignment cost and the second is the total weighted resource consumption. We address these criteria via four different problem variations. We prove that our assignment problem is NP-hard for three of the four variations, even if all the resource consumption weights are equal. However, and somewhat surprisingly, we find that the fourth variation is solvable in polynomial time. In addition, we find that our assignment problem is equivalent to a large set of important scheduling problems whose complexity has been an open question until now, for three of the four variations.     

基于统一价格拍卖的初始排污权分配方法

针对初始排污权总量分配的实际问题,基于统一价格拍卖的思想提出了一种具有激励性的可变总量的分配方法,分别给出了排污企业对称和排污企业非对称两种情形下的线性均衡报价策略,并证明了该方法的可行性和有效性,从而为建设排污权分配和交易制度提供了理论依据和方法参考.     

Weighted core–EP inverse of an operator between Hilbert spaces

We introduce and study the weighted core–EP inverse of an operator between two Hilbert spaces as a generalization of the weighted core–EP inverse for a rectangular matrix. Several new properties of weighted core–EP inverses are given and some known results are extended. Using a weighted operator, the core–EP pre-order and the minus partial order of corresponding operators, we define new pre-orders on the set of all Wg–Drazin invertible operators between two Hilbert spaces. As consequences of our results, we present a new characterization and new representations of the core–EP inverse, new characterizations of the core–EP pre-order and extend the core–EP pre-order to a partial order.     

An optimization approach to adaptive multi-dimensional capital management

Firms should keep capital to offer sufficient protection against the risks they are facing. In the insurance context methods have been developed to determine the minimum capital level required, but less so in the context of firms with multiple business lines including allocation. The individual capital reserve of each line can be represented by means of classical models, such as the conventional Cramér–Lundberg model, but the challenge lies in soundly modelling the correlations between the business lines. We propose a simple yet versatile approach that allows for dependence by introducing a common environmental factor. We present a novel Bayesian approach to calibrate the latent environmental state distribution based on observations concerning the claim processes. The calibration approach is adjusted for an environmental factor that changes over time. The convergence of the calibration procedure towards the true environmental state is deduced. We then point out how to determine the optimal initial capital of the different business lines under specific constraints on the ruin probability of subsets of business lines. Upon combining the above findings, we have developed an easy-to-implement approach to capital risk management in a multi-dimensional insurance risk model.