An EOQ model for salesmen’s initiatives, stock and price sensitive demand of similar products - A dynamical system

The paper deals with an inventory model to determine the retailer’s optimal order quantity for similar products. It is assumed that the amount of display space is limited and the demand of the products depends on the display stock level where more stock of one product makes a negative impression of the another product. Besides it, the demand rate is also dependent on selling price and salesmen’s initiatives. Also, the replenishment rate depends on the level of stock of the items. The objective of the model is to maximize the profit function, including the effect of inflation and time value of money by Pontryagin’s Maximal Principles. The stability analysis of the concerned dynamical system has been done analytically.     

Bonus or flat wage? An experiment into the principal-agent problem

We conduct a simple principal-agent experiment in order to find the effects of information asymmetry on compensation. Our aim is the analysis of the appropriate compensation and its impact on employee’s effort. Furthermore we want to compare the offered compensation and the supplied effort in the version without communication and we want to know whether the experimental observations are consistent with the theoretical considerations.The experimenters found out that compensations observed during the experiment were different from those suggested by the theory and although they were theoretically not enough to induce high effort, we could observe high performance supplied by the agents.     

Effects of a vocally fatiguing task and systemic hydration on phonation threshold pressure

Phonation threshold pressure (PTP), effort for speaking, and vibratory closure pattern were assessed in 4 women with normal untrained voices after 2 hours of loud reading. PTP generally increased after this vocally fatiguing task at conversational pitch and 10%, 50%, and especially 80% of the pitch range. Increased systemic hydration by drinking water appeared to attenuate and/or delay the elevation of PTP for 3 subjects, at least at the highest pitch tested. Effort for speaking increased consistently throughout the loud reading task and subsequently decreased after 15 minutes of vocal silence. Upon videostroboscopic examination of the larynx, 3 subjects demonstrated spindle-shaped vibratory closure patterns on occasion after loud reading. The results provide preliminary support for increasing water consumption to reduce or delay some vocal-function changes after prolonged loud phonation in untrained speakers.     

Comfortable effort level revisited

The purpose of this study was to measure the variability of frequency and intensity of speech, using multiple voice samples obtained over a period of time at a speaker's “comfortable effort level.” Variability in vocal output within and across several experimental sessions was assessed from measures of speaking fundamental frequency (SFF) and vocal intensity for utterances repeated three times a day over a 3-day period. Three distinct age groups of men and women—young, middle-aged and elderly—repeated the vowel /a/, read a standard passage, and spoke extemporaneously during each experimental session. Results indicated that variability in SFF and intensity were present across experimental sessions, age groups, gender, and speaking samples. Generally, group means indicated that ±1 semitone of variability for SFF and 2 db sound pressure level (SPL) variation in vocal intensity from any one experimental session to the next could be expected; individual variations within any group may reach two semitones and 6 db SPL.     

A note on risky targets and effort

This note examines the effort choice problem of a decision maker (DM) who has to meet a target. The more the DM spends on effort, the more likely the target is reached. Besides the risk of missing the target despite his effort, the DM faces additional uncertainty in that both the target and the status quo are subject to exogenous shocks that are beyond the DM’s control. We consider two cases: the additive case in which the DM’s effort affects solely the likelihood of achieving the target, and the multiplicative case in which the DM’s effort also has direct effect on the target and the status quo. Using the theory of monotone comparative statics and risk apportionment, we derive sufficient conditions under which the DM spends more on effort when the target experiences an improvement in risk via higher-order stochastic dominance.     

A class of generalised minimum effort problems in locally convex linear topological spaces

In this paper a class of generalised minimum effort problem has been formulated in locally convex linear topological spaces. Some necessary conditions has been obtained. Existence and uniqueness of the solutions are discussed     

Joint project of fishery and poultry - A bioeconomic model

This paper considers the optimal joint harvest of prawns and poultry in a linked bioeconomic system. Through the cultivation process, poultry and prawns are reciprocal predators of one another. Prawns of non-marketable quality are fed to the birds, and birds which perish (in greater numbers in the face of increased density) are fed to prawns, along with a lot of other things that one does not usually consider prawns to eat (hogs, broken rice, etc.). The paper derives optimality conditions for the joint “effort” imposed in each of these industries, where effort is somehow analogous to the control variable in classical Gordon-Schaefer fishery problems. Growth of both species is governed by parameters as well as externally applied nutrients and the biomass of the other species available as supplemental nutrition. Analysis of the boundedness of this dynamical system is discussed. The conditions for local and global stability are derived. Finally, an optimal harvesting policy is discussed by applying Pontryagin’s Maximal Principle. Due to linearity of the objective function with respect to the control variable, the solution is bang-bang in this control and the best policy is to reach the singular equilibrium as quickly as possible by switching to the singular control.     

Extension of the non-uniform warping theory to an orthotropic composite beam

This Note proposes an extension to composite section of the non-uniform (out-of-plane) warping beam theory recently established for homogeneous and isotropic beam by R. El Fatmi (C. R. Mecanique 335 (2007) 467–474). For the present work, which constitutes a first step of this extension, the cross-section is assumed to be symmetric and made by orthotropic materials; however, Poisson's effects (called here in-plane warping) are also taken into account. Closed form results are given for the structural behavior of the composite beam and for the expressions of the 3D stresses; these ones, easy to compare with 3D Saint Venant stresses, make clear the additional contribution of the new internal forces induced by the non-uniformity of the (in and out) warpings. As first numerical applications, results on torsion and shear-bending of a cantilever sandwich beam are presented.     

Effects of a Vocally Fatiguing Task and Systemic Hydration on Men''s Voices

Voice disorders, specifically vocal fatigue, are more commonly reported by women than by men. Previously, 4 women with normal untrained voices read loudly for 2 hours in an attempt to fatigue the voice. Vocal function deteriorated, as indicated by increases in phonation threshold pressure (PTP) and self-perceived phonatory effort. The increase in PTP was delayed or attenuated to some degree in 3 of the women when they drank ample amounts of water before the experiment. The current study examined the same vocal-loading task and water-drinking condition in 4 vocally normal men. PTP increased after the loud-reading task. Although 2 of the men appeared to benefit from increased systemic hydration (PTP increased more when they were underhydrated than well-hydrated), the other 2 men's data changed in the opposite direction. Phonatory effort correlated well with PTP; this varied across subject and pitch. Laryngeal endoscopy revealed an anterior glottal gap in two men after the loud-reading task. Amplitude of vocal fold vibration was judged to be reduced after the loud-reading task in three subjects when underhydrated and one subject when well hydrated. The high between-subject variability prohibits a conclusion that drinking water is beneficial to vocal function in men, but all subjects studied to date demonstrated detrimental vocal effects of prolonged loud talking.