Computing Aviation Sparing Policies: Solving a Large Nonlinear Integer Program

Deployed US Navy aircraft carriers must stock a large number of spare parts to support the various types of aircraft embarked on the ship. The sparing policy determines the spares that will be stocked on the ship to keep the embarked aircraft ready to fly. Given a fleet of ten or more aircraft carriers and a cost of approximately 50 million dollars per carrier plus the cost of spares maintained in warehouses in the United States, the sparing problem constitutes a significant portion of the Navy’s resources. The objective of this work is to find a minimum-cost sparing policy that meets the readiness requirements of the embarked aircraft. This is a very large, nonlinear, integer optimization problem. The cost function is piecewise linear and convex while the constraint mapping is highly nonlinear. The distinguishing characteristics of this problem from an optimization viewpoint are that a large number of decision variables are required to be integer and that the nonlinear constraint functions are essentially “black box” functions; that is, they are very difficult (and expensive) to evaluate and their derivatives are not available. Moreover, they are not convex. Integer programming problems with a large number of variables are difficult to solve in general and most successful approaches to solving nonlinear integer problems have involved linear approximation and relaxation techniques that, because of the complexity of the constraint functions, are inappropriate for attacking this problem. We instead employ a pattern search method to each iteration of an interior point-type algorithm to solve the relaxed version of the problem. From the solution found by the pattern search on each interior point iteration, we begin another pattern search on the integer lattice to find a good integer solution. The best integer solution found across all interations is returned as the optimal solution. The pattern searches are distributed across a local area network of non-dedicated, heterogeneous computers in an office environment, thus, drastically reducing the time required to find the solution.     

A simple proof of Sanov’s theorem*

A simple self-contained proof of Sanov's theorem in τ-topology is given, well suited for a first course on large deviations. *This work was supported by the Hungarian National Foundation for Scientific Research under Grant T046376     

正相协列乘积和的重对数律与强大数律

证明了强平稳正相协列乘积和的重对数律与不同分布正相协列乘积和的强大数律,指出了部分和服从强大数律但乘积和未必服从强大数律这一事实,并讨论了定理2中一个条件的必要性．     

在CPM非稳腔Nd:YAG激光器中用被—被动锁模方法选单脉冲的探讨

在CPM Nd:YAG非稳腔激光器中,我们使用透过率较大的可饱和吸收体使单脉冲序列中的脉冲个数减少到3—5个,在输出的单序列中再使用非线性介质进行处理,可以得到比较接近的单脉冲输出。     

B值鞅型序列的一些极限定理

本文讨论了一些B值鞅型序列的强大数定律 ,弱大数定律 ,Lr收敛性及完全收敛性 ,推广了许多熟知的结果 .     

Coupling Losses for Resonators with Unequal Apertures for Extended Fresnel Numbers

Coupling losses have been calculated for laser resonators with unequal apertures and extended Fresnel Numbers. This was done using both, diffraction theory and a simple linear model.A close form expression was derived to calculate coupling losses with reasonable accuracies for a limited range of paramters. This should help in the preliminary design of hole coupling laser resonators.     

北京自由电子激光最近进展──实现饱和振荡

北京自由电子激光(BFEL)装置于1993年底在10.68μm处实现了饱和振荡.输出激光能量为3mJ,饱和平顶宽度2μs.对应饱和振荡平均功率为210kW(宏脉冲),峰值功率约为20MW,比自发辐射高8个量级,单程小讯号净增益为24%,转换效率为0.45%,与理论预期结果相符.光束质量接近衍射极限.目前装置可工作于9-11μm.     

制备相干态腔场GHZ态

提出了一种利用简并Ⅴ型三能级原子与相干态光场(大失谐条件下)Raman相互作用实现类自旋的腔场Greenberger-Home-Zeilinger(即GHZ)态的新方案。     

Transient free‐surface flow of a viscoelastic fluid in a narrow channel

The interplay between inertia and elasticity is examined for transient free‐surface flow inside a narrow channel. The lubrication theory is extended for the flow of viscoelastic fluids of the Oldroyd‐B type (consisting of a Newtonian solvent and a polymeric solute). While the general formulation accounts for non‐linearities stemming from inertia effects in the momentum conservation equation, and the upper‐convected terms in the constitutive equation, only the front movement contributes to non‐linear coupling for a flow inside a straight channel. In this case, it is possible to implement a spectral representation in the depthwise direction for the velocity and stress. The evolution of the flow field is obtained locally, but the front movement is captured only in the mean sense. The influence of inertia, elasticity and viscosity ratio is examined for pressure‐induced flow. The front appears to progress monotonically with time. However, the velocity and stress exhibit typically a strong overshoot upon inception, accompanied by a plug‐flow behaviour in the channel core. The flow intensity eventually diminishes with time, tending asymptotically to Poiseuille conditions. For highly elastic liquids the front movement becomes oscillatory, experiencing strong deceleration periodically. A multiple‐scale solution is obtained for fluids with no inertia and small elasticity. Comparison with the exact (numerical) solution indicates a wide range of validity for the analytical result. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.