Determination of Economic Packaging Set-up Frequency of Jointly Replenished Items

This paper deals with the problem of determining the economic operating policy for inventory items which are manufactured jointly but packaged individually. The proposed new approach is very simple and efficient. An extensive simulation study is presented so that the results of several heuristics (based on a wide range of data, measuring the number of optimal solutions, average error and maximum error) can be compared.     

The Hopf algebra Rep U_{q} \widehat{\frak g \frak l}_\infty

We define the Hopf algebra structure on the Grothendieck group of finite-dimensional polynomial representations of in the limitN→∞. The resulting Hopf algebra Rep is a tensor product of its Hopf subalgebras Rep_a ,a ∈ ℂ^×/q^2ℤ. Whenq is generic (resp.,q ² is a primitive root of unity of orderl), we construct an isomorphism between the Hopf algebra Rep _a and the algebra of regular functions on the prounipotent proalgebraic group (resp., ). Whenq is a root of unity, this isomorphism identifies the Hopf subalgebra of Rep _a spanned by the modules obtained by pullback with respect to the Frobenius homomorphism with the algebra generated by the coefficients of the determinant of an element of considered as anl×l matrix over the Taylor series. This gives us an explicit formula for the Frobenius pullbacks of the fundamental representations. In addition, we construct a natural action of the Hall algebra associated to the infinite linear quiver (resp., the cyclic quiver withl vertices) on Rep _a and describe the span of tensor products of evaluation representations taken at fixed points as a module over this Hall algebra.     

On balking from an empty queue

The intuition while observing the economy of queueing systems, is that one’s motivation to join the system, decreases with its level of congestion. Here we present a queueing model where sometimes the opposite is the case. The point of departure is the standard first-come first-served single server queue with Poisson arrivals. Customers commence service immediately if upon their arrival the server is idle. Otherwise, they are informed if the queue is empty or not. Then, they have to decide whether to join or not. We assume that the customers are homogeneous and when they consider whether to join or not, they assess their queueing costs against their reward due to service completion. As the whereabouts of customers interact, we look for the (possibly mixed) join/do not join Nash equilibrium strategy, a strategy that if adopted by all, then under the resulting steady-state conditions, no one has any incentive not to follow it oneself. We show that when the queue is empty then depending on the service distribution, both ‘avoid the crowd’ (ATC) and ‘follow the crowd’ (FTC) scenarios (as well as none-of-the-above) are possible. When the queue is not empty, the situation is always that of ATC. Also, we show that under Nash equilibrium it is possible (depending on the service distribution) that the joining probability when the queue is empty is smaller than it is when the queue is not empty. This research was supported by The Israel Science Foundation Grant No. 237/02.     

Isomorphism of two realizations of quantum affine algebraU_q (\widehat{\mathfrak{g}\mathfrak{l}{\text{(}}n{\text{)}}})

We establish an explicit isomorphism between two realizations of the quantum affine algebra given previously by Drinfeld and Reshetikhin-Semenov-Tian-Shansky. Our result can be considered as an affine version of the isomorphism between the Drinfield/Jimbo and the Faddeev-Reshetikhin-Takhtajan constructions of the quantum algebra .     

Optimal corrective maintenance contract planning for aging multi‐state system

This paper considers an aging multi‐state system, where the system failure rate varies with time. After any failure, maintenance is performed by an external repair team. Repair rate and cost of each repair are determined by a corresponding corrective maintenance contract with a repair team. The service market can provide different kinds of maintenance contracts to the system owner, which also can be changed after each specified time period. The owner of the system would like to determine a series of repair contracts during the system life cycle in order to minimize the total expected cost while satisfying the system availability. Operating cost, repair cost and penalty cost for system failures should be taken into account. The paper proposes a method for determining such optimal series of maintenance contracts. The method is based on the piecewise constant approximation for an increasing failure rate function in order to assess lower and upper bounds of the total expected cost and system availability by using Markov models. The genetic algorithm is used as the optimization technique. Numerical example is presented to illustrate the approach. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Linear response in the strong field domain

We show that, while it is well-known that first-order perturbation theory leads to linear response (of, e.g., a material system to an external field), the reverse is not true: linear response does not necessarily imply the validity of first-order perturbation theory, nor does it follow from it that the external perturbation is weak. We do so by analyzing the intensity dependence in the photoexcitation followed by dissociation or isomerization of a bound molecular system by a shaped broadband laser pulse. We show that, in certain cases where strong field effects are definitely present, the observed photoexcitation yield as a function of intensity may exhibit linear dependence over a wide range of intensities. The behavior is shown to coexist with a rather extensive range of coherent control over the branching ratios, an effect that was shown in the past to be impossible in the single precursor state (e.g., in the first-order perturbation theory) domain. For example, we demonstrate computationally that when (flat continuum-mediated) Raman transitions are present, appropriate pulse shaping can lead to a linear yield with intensity over a wide range of intensities, while coherent control over the branching ratio is significant. Thus, it is not necessary to invoke external bath effects (as is currently being done) to explain present-day experiments where coherent control is observed in the linear response regime.     

Uniform estimates for a variational problem with small parameters

Communicated by J. M. Ball     

Time reversal for obstacle location in elastodynamics from acoustic recording

The Note is concerned with a feasibility study of time reversal in a non-homogeneous elastic medium, from data recorded in an acoustic medium. Our aim here is to determine the presence and some physical properties of elastic “inclusions” (unknown, not observable solid objects, characterized by their elastic properties) from partial observations of acoustic waves scattered by these inclusions. A finite element numerical method, based on a variational acousto-elastodynamics formulation, is derived and used to solve the forward, and then, the time-reversed problem. A criterion, derived from the reverse time migration framework, is introduced, to help construct images of the inclusions to be determined. Numerical illustrations on configurations that mimic the breast cancer configuration are proposed, and show that one can differentiate between two inclusions, even with different properties.