A heuristic for single-warehouse multiretailer supply chains with all-unit transportation cost discounts

In supply chain management research, transportation costs, if explicitly considered at all, are frequently assumed to be linear. These costs often have a more complex form, such as an all-unit discount structure – this piecewise cost function adds significant complexity when included in supply chain management problems and is therefore often ignored due to solution time or tractability concerns. We present and evaluate a new heuristic procedure which provides good solutions to problems involving all-unit discount cost functions while significantly reducing solution times. The general nature of this procedure does not require assumptions about the supply chain structure or policies, and is therefore applicable in a wide range of settings.     

MaxVaR with non-Gaussian distributed returns

The common fallacy in risk measurement throughout a long investment horizon is to handle only the terminal risk. This pathology affects Value-at-Risk, hence a recent contribution in the literature has proposed the concept of within-horizon risk as a solution to the problem. The quantification of this type of risk leads to the so called MaxVaR measure, but the assumption of Gaussian distributed returns biases this model. This study analyzes the consequences of non-Gaussian returns to the MaxVaR inference. An example of application to long-term risk management is provided.     

Study on Quantum Entanglement Between Mesoscopic Circuit and Environment at Coherent State

Taking into account the interaction between electrons and phonons, in the case without-rotating-wave aproximation, we study the entangling property between the mesoscopic circuit and environment at coherent state or equilibrium state. The result indicates that, in long time limit t →∞, the averages of charge and current in the circuit only depend on the average of the system at the initial state when the environment is initially at thermal equilibrimn. However, when the environment is initially at coherent state, the average of charge and current in the circuit is determined by the specific coherent state ensemble. Generally speaking, the entanglement between the circuit and environment will lead to the quantum state purity declining of the circuit, then the circuit emerges decoherent phenomenon, and so a mixed sta.te appears. Purity changes are related to the initial quantum state of environment and circuit. With the further evolution of time, coherence will be gradually restored, but cannot return to 1.     

气温随机模型与我国气温期权定价研究

建立气温期权交易对于对冲天气风险,增加市场金融投资品种具有重要意义。本文主要参照均值回复模型,考虑气温的季节变化和长期趋势,建立反映气温变化的随机模型,应用1980至1999年北京日平均气温对模型参数进行估计。实证仿真以及模型验证结果表明,模型的相对误差较小,建立的气温随机模型能够对未来气温变化进行较好的模拟。蒙特卡罗方法能够对天气衍生产品进行合理定价。     

Optimal harvesting policy of an inland fishery resource under incomplete information

A new mathematical model for finding the optimal harvesting policy of an inland fishery resource under incomplete information is proposed in this paper. The model is based on a stochastic control formalism in a regime‐switching environment. The incompleteness of information is due to uncertainties involved in the body growth rate of the fishery resource: a key biological parameter. Finding the most cost‐effective harvesting policy of the fishery resource ultimately reduces to solving a terminal and boundary value problem of a Hamilton‐Jacobi‐Bellman equation: a nonlinear and degenerate parabolic partial differential equation. A simple finite difference scheme for solving the equation is then presented, which turns out to be convergent and generates numerical solutions that comply with certain theoretical upper and lower bounds. The model is finally applied to the management of Plecoglossus altivelis, a major inland fishery resource in Japan. The regime switching in this case is due to the temporal dynamics of benthic algae, the main food of the fish. Model parameter values are identified from field measurement results in 2017. Our computational results clearly show the dependence of the optimal harvesting policy on the river environmental and biological conditions. The proposed model would serve as a mathematical tool for fishery resource management under uncertainties.     

Guanine Substitutions Prevent Conformational Switch from Antiparallel to Parallel G-Quadruplex

Guanine quadruplexes, recently reported to form in vivo, represent a broad spectrum of non-canonical conformations of nucleic acids. The actual conformation might differ between water solutions and crowding or dehydrating solutions that better reflect the conditions in the cell. Here we show, using spectroscopic techniques, that most guanine substitutions prevent the conformational switch from antiparallel or hybrid forms to parallel ones when induced by dehydrating agents. The inhibitory effect does not depend on the position of the substitution, but, interestingly, on the type of substitution and, to some extent, on its destabilising potential. A parallel form might be induced in some cases by ligands such as N-methyl mesoporphyrin IX and even this ligand-induced switch is inhibited by guanine substitution. The ability or inability to have a conformation switch, based on actual conditions, might significantly influence potential conformation-dependent quadruplex interactions.     

Practical application of 1H benchtop NMR spectroscopy for the characterization of a nonaqueous phase liquid from a contaminated environment

Nonaqueous phase liquids (NAPLs) located at the surface of the water table and/or below the water table are often a significant source for groundwater contamination near current or former commercial/industrial facilities. Due to the complex and long history of many industrial sites, these NAPLs often contain a complex mixture of contaminants and as such can be difficult to fully characterize using conventional analytical methods. Remediation and risk assessment activities at sites containing NAPLs may, subsequently, be hindered as the contamination profile may not be fully understood. This paper demonstrates the application of bench-scale ¹H nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy as a practical tool to assist with the characterization of complex NAPLs. Here, a NAPL collected from a contaminated site situated near a former chemical manufacturing facility was analyzed using a combination of one-dimensional (1D) ¹H NMR spectroscopy and two-dimensional (2D) ¹H J-resolved spectroscopy (JRES). It is shown that 1D NMR experiments are useful in the rapid identification of the classes of compounds present, whereas 2D JRES NMR experiments are useful in identifying specific compounds. The use of benchtop NMR spectroscopy as a simple and cost effective tool to assist in the analysis of contaminated sites may help improve the practical characterization of many heavily contaminated sites and facilitate improved risk assessments and remedial strategies.     

Focus on economy or ecology? A three‐dimensional trade‐off based on ecological carrying capacity in southwest China

Economic growth and human activities challenge the regional harmony of the economy and environment. Based on an evaluation of ecological carrying capacity (ECC), we have constructed a three‐dimensional trade‐off model for socially harmonious development for the Sichuan and Yunnan regions in southwest China. The results demonstrate that there is a continuous increase in socioeconomic coordination (SEC; slope > 0.23) and a change in the ECC in the study area, characterized by subtle fluctuations from 2000 through 2008. This was primarily due to the loss of resource and environment carrying capacity wiping out the profits of SEC. Significant government aid during the postdisaster reconstruction and more attention being paid to the environment in policy resulted in a faster increase in ECC (slope > 0.38) from 2008 to 2016. Based on this trade‐off model, managers could deeply understand the relationship between resources, the economy, and ecology. Summary for Managers

• Ecological environment protection is increasingly crucial in Sichuan and Yunnan regions as they feel the effects of climate change and human activities.
• The three‐dimensional trade‐off model measuring socially coordinated development is a modified multiobjective, decision‐making model.
• Based on this trade‐off model, managers could, understand the relationship between resources, the economy, and ecology.
• It can help manage our environmental assets and plan ecological conservation, to ensure that the environment maintains its capacity to serve the societal development.

     

Capturing and prioritizing students’ requirements for course design by embedding Fuzzy-AHP and linear programming in QFD

Customer requirements play a vital and important role in the design of products and services. Quality Function Deployment (QFD) is a popular, widely used method that helps translate customer requirements into design specifications. Thus, the foundation for a successful QFD implementation lies in the accurate capturing and prioritization of these requirements. This paper proposes and tests the use of an alternative framework for prioritizing students’ requirements within QFD. More specifically, Fuzzy Analytic Hierarchy Process (Fuzzy-AHP) and the linear programming method (LP-GW-AHP) based on Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) are embedded into QFD (QFD-LP-GW-Fuzzy AHP) in order to account for inherent subjectivity of human judgements. The effectiveness of the proposed framework is assessed in capturing and prioritizing students’ requirements regarding courses’ learning outcomes within the process of an academic course design. Sensitivity analysis evaluates the robustness of the prioritization solution and implications for course design specifications are discussed.     

基础项目政府担保因素组成及其对投资激励作用

充分发挥政府担保的支持和引导作用,吸引非政府投资人投资是解决基础项目资金"瓶颈"的有效途径,研究其如何影响投资人积极性问题具有重要的理论和现实意义.通过回顾和总结国内外相关研究成果,提出作为外因的政府担保四个方面要素、作为内因的项目属性来影响项目投资积极性的概念模型及研究假设,采用调查问卷和结构方程模型方法得到结果:项目属性对政府担保具有显著负作用,表明项目预期盈利较好时,政府提供的担保水平较低,项目预期盈利较差时,政府提供的担保水平较高;在对投资积极性的影响方面,项目属 性和政府担保都对项目投资积极性具有显著的正激励作用;值得注意的是,政府担保对项目投资积极性还具有显著的中介效应.结论表明,在项目属性判断基础上,政府权衡投资积极性和财政风险,对于项目属性得分较低的项目政府提供的担保程度会比较大,对项目属性得分较高的项目政府提供的担保程度会比较小,即政府担保水平依赖于项目属性,又显著影响投资人积极性.