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．     

约束装箱问题的混合遗传算法求解

本将最佳适应法和遗传算法相结合，提出了一种新的启发式混合遗传算法对具有时间约束的装箱问题进行求解，给出了具体的算法步骤，试算结果表明基于启发式算法的混合遗传算法适合于求解各种约束条件下的大规模装箱问题。     

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 .     

全面成绩管理的初探

利用数量化方法,数字特征法,W ilcoxon顺序和检验法以及试卷分析的各种方法(试题难度,区分度,信度,效度等),定量地解决了影响学生成绩的主要因素,并引入全面管理方法,明显地改善了学生成绩,学生综合能力明显加强.     

PRELIMINARY STUDY ON RETRO-REFLECTIVE COATED PAPER BASED ON MICROGLASS BEADS

INTRODUCTIONThe micro-glass bead[1-2] is a new kind of silicate material, with good properties of chemical stability, mechanical strength as well as electro-resistance. When its diameter is below 0.08mm and the reflective index is in the range of 1.9~2.1, retro-reflective characteristics can be achieved. When a beam of ray from any direction irradiates the surface of the micro-glass beads, it can be converged at the special reflective layer consisted of focuses of micro-glass beads, owing …     

加快我国信用卡市场发展的思考

自1986年中国银行发行了我国的第一张信用卡——长城卡以来，我国的信用卡市场经历了一个起步、探索的阶段，“电子货币”正逐渐改变着人们的生活方式。但由于缺乏规范、统一的管理，经营粗放；产品定位不当，管理手段落后；个人信用体系不健全；特约商户发展缓慢等原因，阻碍着我国信用卡业的进一步发展。鉴于此，就如何加快信用卡业的发展提出了一些对策和建议。     

浅谈塑料包装材料的发展趋势

扼要介绍了塑料包装材料的发展概况，重点对2l世纪初世界塑料包装材料的发展趋向进行展望，并分析评述了塑料包装和环保的关系。     

乙酸乙酯分离竹子中木质素制浆造纸研究

用乙酸乙酯浸提竹子制取纸浆，并用造纸行业相关国家标准对纸浆进行了分析。探讨了乙酸乙酯浓度、反应温度、反应时间、原料与溶剂的固液比对纸浆质量的影响。实验结果表明：当乙酸乙酯浓度为60％、反应温度为180℃、反应时间2h、原料-溶剂比为1：6时，制得的纸浆中残余木素含量相对较低、纸浆得率较高。