Impact of demand uncertainty on coordinating supply chain inventories through common replenishment epochs

Prior studies have shown that inventories in a one vendor, multi-buyer supply chain with deterministic demands can be coordinated effectively through the use of common replenishment epochs (CRE). In this paper, we study the impact of demand uncertainty on the effectiveness of coordinating such a supply chain. We develop a model to analyse the coordination mechanism using CRE in a one-vendor, multi-buyer supply chain, when the demand faced by the buyers is stochastic. Our numerical study based on the model found that coordination through CRE may not always be beneficial when the demand variance is high. We also investigate a strategy of advance order processing by the vendor to improve the effectiveness of coordination through CRE.     

Synthesis and application as polymer electrolyte of hyperbranched polyether made by cationic ring‐opening polymerization of 3‐{2‐[2‐(2‐hydroxyethoxy)ethoxy]ethoxymethyl}‐3′‐methyl‐oxetane

A novel cyclic ether monomer 3‐{2‐[2‐(2‐hydroxyethoxy)ethoxy]ethoxy‐methyl}‐3′‐methyloxetane (HEMO) was prepared from the reaction of 3‐hydroxymethyl‐3′‐methyloxetane tosylate with triethylene glycol. The corresponding hyperbranched polyether (PHEMO) was synthesized using BF₃·Et₂O as initiator through cationic ring‐opening polymerization. The evidence from ¹H and ¹³C NMR analyses revealed that the hyperbranched structure is constructed by the competition between two chain propagation mechanisms, i.e. active chain end and activated monomer mechanism. The terminal structure of PHEMO with a cyclic fragment was definitely detected by MALDI‐TOF measurement. A DSC test implied that the resulting polyether has excellent segment motion performance potentially beneficial for the ion transport of polymer electrolytes. Moreover, a TGA assay showed that this hyperbranched polymer possesses high thermostability as compared to its liquid counterpart. The ion conductivity was measured to reach 5.6 × 10^?5 S/cm at room temperature and 6.3 × 10^?4 S/cm at 80 °C after doped with LiTFSI at a ratio of Li:O = 0.05, presenting the promise to meet the practical requirement of lithium ion batteries for polymer electrolytes. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem 44: 3650–3665, 2006     

Fluorometric study on the interaction between lomefloxacin and bovine lactoferrin.

The binding of lomefloxacin to bovine lactoferrin (BLf) in a dilute aqueous solution was studied using fluorescence spectra. The binding constant (K) and the number of binding sites (n) were obtained by a fluorescence quenching method. The binding distance (r) and energy-transfer efficiency (E) between lomefloxacin and bovine lactoferrin were also obtained according to the mechanism of Fo?rster-type dipole-dipole nonradiative energy-transfer. The effect of lomefloxacin on the conformation of bovine lactoferrin was also analyzed by synchronous fluorescence spectroscopy. The interaction between lomefloxacin and bovine lactoferrin is strong. Lomefloxacin can affect the conformation of bovine lactoferrin to some degree.     

Resonant-induced transparency and coupled modes in layered metamaterials

We present an overview of some of our work on transmission properties and mode characteristics of layered metamaterials and their potential applications. In particular, we will show how layered metamaterials exhibit unusual transmission properties and unconventional features of guided modes, such as resonance-induced transparency in multilayer structures and slope reversal of dispersion curves in coupled waveguides. PACS 78.67.-n; 73.21.Ac; 61.46.+w; 42.25.Bs; 42.82.Et     

Dynamic behavior of discrete-time multiagent systems with general communication structures

In this paper, we discuss the dynamic behavior of networks of dynamic agents with general communication topologies. We first analyze the basic case: systems with communication topologies that have spanning trees, i.e., the systems that solve consensus problems. We establish an algebraic condition to characterize each agent's contributions to the final state. And we also study the influence of time-delays on each agent's contributions. Then, we investigate the general case: systems with weakly connected topologies. By using matrix theory, we prove that the states of internal agents will converge to a convex combination of boundary agents in the absence or presence of communication time-delays, and we also show that the coefficients of the convex combination are independent of time-delays even if the delays are time-varying. These results have broad applications in other areas, e.g., study of swarm behavior, formation control of vehicles, etc.     

LIMITING BEHAVIOR OF UNIFORM RECURSIVE TREES

The authors consider the limiting behavior of various branches in a uniform recursive tree with size growing to infinity.The limiting distribution ofζ_(n,m),the number of branches with size m in a uniform recursive tree of order n,converges weakly to a Poisson distribution with parameter 1/m with convergence of all moments.The size of any large branch tends to infinity almost surely.     

选择性远程DEPT~(13)C NMR新技术用于新阔叶千里光碱氮氧化合物的结构测定和谱峰归属研究

从湖北蟹甲草根茎中分得一个新的生物碱,选择性远程DEPT~(13)C NMR新技术用于识别NMR信号归属和连接被季碳及杂原子分割的质子自旋系统,确定其结构为新阔叶千里光碱的氮氧化物,如(1)所示。     

锁相电子散斑系统

电子散斑干涉计量在变形量检测¹、无损探伤、振动分析^(2,3)等领域具有广泛的应用前景,目前它之所以未能实用化,最重要的原因就是该系统对环境的要求过高,特别是物体的振动和空气的扰动对测量结果影响很大,甚至会导致测量失败,因而国内外学者在不断寻找解决此问题的锁相技术。本文提出了一种简易的切实可行的锁相方法-光学锁相法,消除了物体的振动和空气扰动对电子散斑测量的影响。