Managing a retail-competition distribution channel with incentive policies

In reality, the multi-retailer channel of distribution has occurred in many industries, such as electronics, appliances, and apparel. The practice of the supplier providing incentives to retailers to promote sales is also quite prevalent in today’s business. This paper considers a two-retailer supply chain in which the supplier provides a cash discount to a specific retailer (a senior company owning more market share and having less pressure on the utilization of capital investment) and a credit period to another (a junior company owning less market share and having more pressure on the utilization of capital investment). The end demand for each channel has a substitute effect in terms of retail prices. The research problem originates from operations of dual-retailer channels in the automotive parts and accessories industry. The objective of the supplier is to determine the cash discount and credit period to maximize his profit. Both retailers determine pricing and ordering policies to maximize profits. This paper applies a Supplier Stackelberg framework to obtain equilibrium solutions for every entity. Numerical analysis is conducted to discuss the influence retailer competition has on the decision behaviors of the supplier and retailers.     

Demonstration of fiber-laser-produced plasma source and application to efficient extreme UV light generation

Efficient generation of extreme UV (EUV) light at lambda = 13.5 nm from a bulk Sn target has been demonstrated by using a fiber laser. The conversion efficiency from the 1064 nm IR to the EUV was measured to be around 0.9% into 2pi steradians within a 2% bandwidth. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first time an all-fiber system was used to generate EUV or soft x rays.     

Switching and impulsive control of a reflected diffusion

This paper is concerned with the optimal control of a reflected diffusion. The process is controlled by switching the control mode and by impulsing the state of the process. With Bensoussan-Lions' result on stopping time problems, two quasi-variational inequalities are solved as the dynamic programming equations for a discounted cost and a long run average cost criterions.     

Two-phase pricing and inventory management for deteriorating and fashion goods under trade credit

This study models a finite horizon inventory problem for deteriorating and fashion goods under trade credit and partial backlogging conditions. Demand may vary with price or time. The supplier can extend credit to the retailer. As a result, the retailer does not have to pay for goods immediately upon acquiring them, and can instead earn interest on the retail price of the goods between the time they are sold and the end of the credit period. The proposed model considers two-phase pricing and inventory decisions. In other words, it determines both the optimal prices and the lengths of the in-stock and stock-out period. This paper is the first to consider different price decisions for in-stock and stock-out periods under trade credit. We develop an algorithm to determine the optimal pricing and replenishment strategy while still maximizing the total profit. Further, this study shows that the proposed two-phase pricing strategy is superior to a one-phase pricing strategy in terms of profit maximization. Computational analysis illustrates the solution procedures and the impacts of the related parameters on decisions and profits. The results of this study can serve as references for business managers or administrators.     

Direct Spectroscopic Evidence of the Influence of Chamber Wall Condition on Oxide Etch Rate

The drift of TEOS etch rate has been observed during MERIE oxide etch for the damascene process. The etch rate typically fluctuates between 5300 Å/min and 6000 Å/min. Studies using fluorocarbon-based chemistry show a normal TEOS etch rate when the chamber wall is heavily coated with polymer deposition. On the other hand, a lower etch rate appears when the chamber has less deposition. Hysteresis behavior has been observed during the etch rate of TEOS, as well as emission intensity trends of F, CF _x (x=1~3), and SiF. From the observed emission intensity variation of F, CF _x , and SiF, a model is proposed to explain the impact of chamber wall polymer deposition on the etch rate of TEOS. This model includes a mechanism of etch rate enhancement by embedding oxygen in the chamber wall polymer. From the correlation between etch rate and emission intensity, it clearly shows that F is directly responsible for the etch of TEOS. Compared to F, CF _x plasma chemistry has a closer link to chamber wall polymer formation, but contributes less in the etch of TEOS.     

High-energy and high-peak-power nanosecond pulse generation with beam quality control in 200-microm core highly multimode Yb-doped fiber amplifiers

We explored high-energy and high-peak-power pulse generation in large-core multimode fiber amplifiers, achieving what is to our knowledge the highest reported energies, up to 82 mJ for 500-ns pulses, 27 mJ for 50-ns pulses, and 2.4-MW peak power for 4-ns pulses at 1064 nm, using 200-microm-diameter and 0.062-N.A. core Yb-doped double-clad fiber amplifiers. The highly multimode nature of the fiber core was mitigated by use of a coiling-induced mode-filtering effect to yield a significant improvement in output-beam quality from M2 = 25 from an uncoiled fiber to M2 = 6.5 from a properly coiled fiber, with the corresponding reduction in number of propagating transverse modes from > or = 200 to < or = 20.     

One-dimensional reflective diffuser for line beam shaper with microlens array homogenizer

A laser beam shaping architecture based on a microlens array homogenizer has been exploited, in which the interference effect due to the coherency of the laser source deteriorates the uniformity. Moving diffusers have been considered as an effective way of averaging out the interference pattern. Because the uniformity is required in the line direction only, a one-dimensional reflective-type diffuser with a well-controlled diffusion angle has been proposed and prototyped. The diffuser is attached onto a rotating cylinder for movement in operation. The experiment demonstrates the effectiveness of the scheme, and a line beam with a uniformity of up to 92% has been achieved.     

Dynamic decision-making for an inventory system with time-varying demand

This article considers the problem of dynamic decision-making for time-varying demand products under trade credit. The article adopts a price, warranty length and time-dependent demand function to model the finite time horizon inventory. The objective of this study is to determine the optimal periodic selling price, warranty length and ordering quantity so that the total profit is maximized. We discuss the optimization properties and develop solution procedures based on dynamic programming techniques for solving the problem described. The numerical analyses show that dynamic decision-making is superior to fixed decision-making and an appropriate warranty policy can benefit the company. This study also discusses the effects of interest earned, interest charged and credit period on company's decisions and profits.     

Constant mean curvature hypersurfaces with two principal curvatures in a sphere

In this paper we consider a compact oriented hypersurface M ⁿ with constant mean curvature H and two distinct principal curvatures λ and μ with multiplicities (n − m) and m, respectively, immersed in the unit sphere S ⁿ⁺¹. Denote by the trace free part of the second fundamental form of M ⁿ , and Φ be the square of the length of . We obtain two integral formulas by using Φ and the polynomial . Assume that B _H,m is the square of the positive root of P _H,m (x) = 0. We show that if M ⁿ is a compact oriented hypersurface immersed in the sphere S ⁿ⁺¹ with constant mean curvatures H having two distinct principal curvatures λ and μ then either or . In particular, M ⁿ is the hypersurface .      

Damage Detection of Regular Civil Buildings Using Modified Multi-Scale Symbolic Dynamic Entropy

Based on the examination of the fundamental characteristics of structures, structural health monitoring (SHM) has received increased attention in recent years. Studies have shown that the SHM method using entropy analysis can precisely identify the damaged location of the structure, which is very helpful for the daily inspection or maintenance of civil structures. Although entropy analysis has shown excellent accuracy, it still consumes too much time and too many resources in terms of data processing. To improve the dilemma, in this study, modified multi-scale symbolic dynamic entropy (MMSDE) is adopted to identify the damaged location of the civil structure. A damage index (DI) based on the entropy diagram is also proposed to clearly indicate the damage location. A seven-story numerical model was created to verify the efficiency of the proposed SHM system. The results of the analysis of each case of damage show that the MMSDE curve for the damaged floor is lower than that for the healthy floor, and the structural damage can be correctly diagnosed by the damage index. Subsequently, a scaled-down steel benchmark experiment, including 15 damage cases, was conducted to verify the practical performance of the SHM system. The confusion matrix was used to further evaluate the SHM system. The results demonstrated that the MMSD-based system can quickly diagnose structural safety with reliability and accuracy. It can be used in the field of long-term structural health monitoring in the near future.