LOGISTICS SCHEDULING： ANALYSIS OFTWO-STAGE PROBLEMS

This paper studies the coordination effects between stages for scheduling problems where decision-making is a two-stage process. Two stages are considered as one system. The system can be a supply chain that links two stages, one stage representing a manufacturer; and the other, a distributor It also can represent a single manufacturer, while each stage represents a different department responsible for a part of operations. A problem that jointly considers both stages in order to achieve ideal overall system performance is defined as a system problem. In practice, at times, it might not be feasible for the two stages to make coordinated decisions due to (i) the lack of channels that allow decision makers at the two stages to cooperate, and/or (ii) the optimal solution to the system problem is too difficult (or costly) to achieve.Two practical approaches are applied to solve a variant of two-stage logistic scheduling problems. The Forward Approach is defined as a solution procedure by which the first sta     

STABILITY CRITERIA FOR A CLASS OF UNCERTAINSYSTEMS WITH TIME—DELAY

Some stability criteria are obtained for a class of uncertain systems with time-delay usingLyapunov functional and analytic techniques. It is easy to check the criteria by making use of theboundedness of the uncertainties.     

Technical Notes ：STUDIES ON THE VALUE OF SECONDARY MARKET TO THE SUPPLY CHAIN

This paper investigates the impact of a secondary market, where retailers can buy and sell excessinventories, on the supply chain. We develop a two-period model with a single manufacturer and tworetailers. At the beginning of the first period the retailers order and receive products from themanufacturer, but at the beginning of the second period, they can trade surplus products betweenthemselves in the secondary market. We investigate the impact of the correlated dependence ofretailers' demand on both the quantity effect and the allocation effect under the secondary market.Lastly,we study potential strategies for the manufacturer to increase sales with the existence of thesecondary market.     

FROM MANUFACTURING SCHEDULING TO SUPPLY CHAIN COORDINATION：THE CONTROL OF COMPLEXITY AND UNCERTAINTY

With time-based competition and rapid technology advancements, effective manufacturingscheduling and supply chain coordination are critical to quickly respond to changing marketconditions. These problems, however, are difficult in view of inherent complexity and variousuncertainties involved. Based on a series of results by the authors, decomposition and coordination byusing Lagrangian relaxation is identified in this paper as an effective way to control complexity anduncertainty.A manufacturing scheduling problem is first formulated within the job shop context withuncertain order arrivals, processing times, due dates, and part priorities as a separable optimizationproblem. A solution methodology that combines Lagrangian relaxation, stochastic dynamicprogramming, and heuristics is developed. Method improvements to effectively solve large problemsare also highlighted. To extend manufacturing scheduling within a factory to coordinate autonomicmembers across chains of suppliers, a decentralized supply chai     

PDE-Based Medial Axis Extraction and Shape Manipulation of Arbitrary Meshes

Shape skeletonization （i.e., medial axis extraction） is powerful in many visual computing applications, such as pattern recognition, object segmentation, registration, and animation. In this paper, the authors expand the use of diffusion equations combined with distance field information to approximate medial axes of arbitrary 3D differential properties. It offers an alternative solids represented by polygonal meshes based on their but natural way for medial axis extraction for commonly used 3D polygonal models. By solving the PDE along time axis, this system can not only quickly extract diffusion-based medial axes of input meshes, but also allow users to visualize the extraction process at each time step. In addition, the proposed model provides users a set of manipulation toolkits to sculpt extracted medial axes, then use diffusion-based techniques to recover corresponding deformed shapes according to the original input datasets. This skeleton-based shape manipulation offers a fast and easy way for animation and deformation of complicated mesh objects.     

Systemic Intervention in a University Department: Reflections on Arrested Action Research

This paper reflects on my experience as an insider researcher attempting to use critical systems ideas and practices to promote quality improvement in a university engineering department. Reflection is a key part of learning. This paper is intended to contribute to critically, self-reflective learning for the community of systems practitioners. These reflections on my questions about participation, ethics, politics of process, and the choices and actions resulting from them may help others to formulate their own. The complexity of systems practice places substantial demands on the researcher, particularly in the case of insider, practitioner research. Nevertheless, the exploration of critical systems approaches to critique boundaries and structure ‘problems’ in the core aspects of higher education in locally meaningful ways should continue. While demanding, it still can work to promote learning about authentic quality.     

一种针对加性空域掩密算法的通用掩密分析技术

为了提高通用掩密分析技术的检测性能，针对基于加性噪声的空域掩密技术设计了一种通用掩密分析算法，通过分析LSB、＋-k（k=1，3，5）和SM算法所引入的掩密噪声对图像差分直方图产生的影响，提出分别利用差分直方图分布的高阶统计矩和差分直方图曲线下特殊区域之间的面积比值作为分类特征的掩密分析特征选择算法，分别利用该算法和Farid的通用算法对由LSB、＋-k（k=1，3，5）算法掩密后的图像进行检测，实验结果表明，对于不同的嵌入消息比例，该算法的掩密检测率较Farid的算法都有了大幅度的提高。     

PEAK COVARIANCE STABILITY OF A RANDOM RICCATI EQUATION ARISING FROM KALMAN FILTERING WITH OBSERVATION LOSSES

We consider the stability of a random Riccati equation with a Markovian binary jump coefficient. More specifically, we are concerned with the boundedness of the solution of a random Riccati difference equation arising from Kalman filtering with measurement losses. A sufficient condition for the peak covariance stability is obtained which has a simpler form and is shown to be less conservative in some cases than a very recent result in existing literature. Furthermore, we show that a known sufficient condition is also necessary when the observability index equals one.     

异丙酚用于喉部手术前气管切开的临床观察

目的 观察异丙酚在喉部手术前行气管切开期间应用的可行性及安全性.方法 选择择期喉部手术患者24例,每组12例,随机分为异丙酚组(Ⅰ组)和局麻组(Ⅱ组).Ⅰ组患者在局麻前给予异丙酚1～2 mg/kg缓慢静脉注射,待患者睫毛反射消失、意识丧失后给予1%利多卡因局部浸润再行气管切开.Ⅱ组患者仅在1%利多卡因局部浸润下行气管切开.记录切皮前、切皮时、插管时、插管后1 min、插管后3 min时患者心率(HR)、平均动脉压(MAP)及脉搏氧饱和度(SPO2),观察患者呼吸抑制发生率,燥动发生率及术后遗忘率.结果 切皮时,插管时及插管后1 min,3 min Ⅱ组患者心率(HR)、平均动脉压(MAP)较Ⅰ组患者明显升高,躁动发生率Ⅱ组患者明显高于Ⅰ组患者(P＜0.05),呼吸抑制发生率及脉搏氧饱和度(SPO2)变化无明显差异(P＞0.05).结论 异丙酚用于喉部手术前气管切开安全可行.