Two Innovative Coalition Formation Models for Dynamic Task Allocation in Disaster Rescues

This paper addresses the problem of multi-objective coalition formation for task allocation. In disaster rescue, due to the dynamics of environments, heterogeneity and complexity of tasks as well as limited available agents, it is hard for the single-objective and single (task)-to-single (agent) task allocation approaches to handle task allocation in such circumstances. To this end, two multi-objective coalition formation for task allocation models are proposed for disaster rescues in this paper. First, through coalition formation, the proposed models enable agents to cooperatively perform complex tasks that cannot be completed by single agent. In addition, through adjusting the weights of multiple task allocation objectives, the proposed models can employ the linear programming to generate more adaptive task allocation plans, which can satisfy different task allocation requirements in disaster rescue. Finally, through employing the multi-stage task allocation mechanism of the dynamic programming, the proposed models can handle the dynamics of tasks and agents in disaster environments. Experimental results indicate that the proposed models have good performance on coalition formation for task allocation in disaster environments, which can generate suitable task allocation plans according to various objectives of task allocation.     

Systemic Thinking and Practice Toward Facilitating Inclusive Education: Reflections on a Case of Co-Generated Knowledge and Action in South Africa

This article offers our reflections around a case of facilitating systemic thinking and practice in which the first author of the article (Tlale) interacted with research participants/participant researchers with the intention of strengthening systemic thought and action toward fostering inclusive education in the setting (a rural school in the Eastern Cape in South Africa). We reflect upon the process and also how our engagement was perceived by participants, as expressed in feedback received from them. We point to how Tlale introduced the idea of systemic thinking (to teachers, school management team, school governing body, and a district officer for the district) as tied to the possibility of acting to generate transformation toward a more inclusive educational context for the benefit of the learners at the school in question, thus acting as a systemic mediator on their behalf.     

The Ordering and Replacement Policy for the System with Two Types of Failures

In this paper, the optimal maintenance policy is investigated for a system with stochastic lead time and two types of failures. The system has two types of failures, one type is repairable, when the repairable failure occurs, the system will be repaired by repairman, and the system after repair is not "as good as new". The other type of failure is unrepairable, and when the unrepairable failure occurs the system must be replaced by a new and identical one. The spare system for replacement is available only by order, and the lead time for delivering the spare system is stochastic. The successive survival times of the system form a stochastically decreasing geometric process, the consecutive repair times after failures of the system form a renewal process. By using the renewal process theory and geometric process theory, the explicit expression of the long-run average cost per unit time under ordering policy(N-1) is derived, and the corresponding optimal can be found analytically. Finally,the numerical analyses are given.     

峰值电量约束下的场桥能耗最小化问题研究

随着化石能源的大量使用带来的环境污染问题日益严峻,关注能源使用效率的集装箱港口绿色化运营研究成为近年来的热点之一.本文以集装箱堆场中需要执行预倒箱作业的场桥为研究对象,考虑场桥不同运行状态下的单位时间电量需求不同以及峰值电量实时约束,建立了以总能耗最小化为目标的多场桥调度问题的混合整数规划数学模型.继而,将关键变量利用非连续贝和连续贝两种不同的方式进行编码,将次级变量利用启发式规则进行解码,并设计了相对应的遗传算法交叉与变异方法.数值实验表明,连续贝编码方法表现更为优异;通过与Cplex在小规模算例中的比较,与粒子群算法及人工蜂群算法在大规模算例中的比较,验证了所设计遗传算法的有效性.同时,通过与传统策略的对比,表明本模型可以同时实现能耗总需求与峰值需求两方面的优化,从而可以为港口管理人员在不影响既定日常运营工作的前提下降低能源成本提供科学有效的指导.     

考虑竞争企业定向能力的定向优惠券投放策略

针对竞争环境下企业优惠券投放问题,本文引入大众优惠券和定向优惠券,综合考虑消费者忠诚度和定向能力策略,构建优惠券影响下的企业利润模型,进而分析企业优惠券投放策略。结果表明:(1)当企业实施定向优惠券策略时,企业在优势市场投放强度要高于竞争市场;(2)当企业综合考虑价格歧视和定向优惠券策略时,通过在不同细分市场给予消费者不同价格,最大程度上提升企业的利润;(3)当企业不具备完全定向能力时,企业优惠券投放强度会受到细分市场优惠券面值和投放精度的影响,且同时实行价格歧视和定向优惠券策略,可能会加剧市场竞争。     

C2H2锌指蛋白药物递送技术的研发与应用

锌指蛋白是真核生物中广泛存在的转录因子，在基因的表达调控中起着重要作用。近期研究发现，C₂H₂类型的锌指蛋白(通过两个半胱氨酸和两个组氨酸螯合锌离子)可通过巨胞饮进入哺乳动物细胞。进一步的研究发现C₂H₂锌指蛋白可介导多种模式蛋白质及药物蛋白质的高效细胞递送，其细胞穿透效率亦高于传统的细胞穿膜肽。文章介绍了锌指蛋白的基本生物学信息和其细胞穿透特性，并讨论C₂H₂ 锌指蛋白在大分子药物递送中的应用。     

Forecasting stock volatility in the presence of extreme shocks: Short-term and long-term effects

This paper introduces a novel generalized autoregressive conditional heteroskedasticity–mixed data sampling–extreme shocks (GARCH-MIDAS-ES) model for stock volatility to examine whether the importance of extreme shocks changes in different time ranges. Based on different combinations of the short- and long-term effects caused by extreme events, we extend the standard GARCH-MIDAS model to characterize the different responses of the stock market for short- and long-term horizons, separately or in combination. The unique timespan of nearly 100 years of the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) daily returns allows us to understand the stock market volatility under extreme shocks from a historical perspective. The in-sample empirical results clearly show that the DJIA stock volatility is best fitted to the GARCH-MIDAS-SLES model by including the short- and long-term impacts of extreme shocks for all forecasting horizons. The out-of-sample results and robustness tests emphasize the significance of decomposing the effect of extreme shocks into short- and long-term effects to improve the accuracy of the DJIA volatility forecasts.     

Microstructure evolution and reaction behavior of Cu–Ni alloy and B_4C powder system

Microstructure evolution and reaction behavior of Cu–Ni alloy and B_4C power system was studied by in-situ and static experimental investigations along with theoretical calculations. The reaction process was as follows. Firstly,B_4C decomposed into B and C atoms, and then B atoms diffused into Cu–Ni matrix, leading to the formation of Ni_2B particles. Subsequently, Ni atoms diffused into B_4C, forming a loose mixture of Ni_2B and amorphous C at the initial powder boundary. Finally, with the completion of reaction, Ni_2B particles at the powder boundary grew into a monolithic block, and then C substance was excluded out and accumulated at the edge of this monolithic Ni_2B block. It is believed that the formation of Ni_2B phase is caused by the most negative change of Gibbs free energy among all the potential reactions between Ni–B and Ni–B_4C systems.