pinecone/core-2020-05-10-deduplication huggingface dataset:
Interchange fee rate, merchant discount rate and retail prices in a credit card network: A game-theoretic analysis

We consider two game-theoretic settings to determine the optimal values of an issuer's interchange fee rate, an acquirer's merchant discount rate, and a merchant's retail price in a credit card network. In the first setting, we investigate a two-stage game problem in which the issuer and the acquirer first negotiate the interchange fee rate, and the acquirer and the retailer then determine their merchant discount rate and retail price, respectively. In the second setting, motivated by the recent US bill “H.R. 2695,” we develop a three-player cooperative game in which the issuer, the acquirer, and the merchant form a grand coalition and bargain over the interchange fee rate and the merchant discount rate. Following the cooperative game, the retailer makes its retail pricing decision. We derive both the Shapley value- and the nucleolus-characterized, and globally-optimal unique rates for the grand coalition. Comparing the two game settings, we find that the participation of the merchant in the negotiation process can result in the reduction of both rates. Moreover, the stability of the grand coalition in the cooperative game setting may require that the merchant should delegate the credit card business only to the issuer and the acquirer with sufficiently low operation costs. We also show that the grand coalition is more likely to be stable and the U.S. bill “H.R. 2695” is thus more effective, if the degree of division of labor in the credit card network is higher as the merchant, acquirer, and issuer are more specialized in the retailing, acquiring, and issuing operations, respectively. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Naval Research Logistics, 201
Analysis of the finite-source multiclass priority queue with an unreliable server and setup time

In this article, we study a queueing system serving multiple classes of customers. Each class has a finite-calling population. The customers are served according to the preemptive-resume priority policy. We assume general distributions for the service times. For each priority class, we derive the steady-state system size distributions at departure/arrival and arbitrary time epochs. We introduce the residual augmented process completion times conditioned on the number of customers in the system to obtain the system time distribution. We then extend the model by assuming that the server is subject to operation-independent failures upon which a repair process with random duration starts immediately. We also demonstrate how setup times, which may be required before resuming interrupted service or picking up a new customer, can be incorporated in the model
Lanchester for Cyber: The Mixed Epidemic-Combat Model

The article of record as published may be located at http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/nav.21555Future conflict between armed forces will occur both in the physical domain as well as the information domain. The
linkage of these domains is not yet fully understood. We study the dynamics of a force subject to kinetic effects as well as a
specific network effect–spreading malware. In the course of our study, we unify two well-studied models: the Lanchester model of
armed conflict and deterministic models of epidemiology. We develop basic results, including a rule for determining when explicit
modeling of network propagation is required. We then generalize the model to a force subdivided by both physical and network
topology, and demonstrate the specific case where the force is divided between front- and rear-echelons. © 2013Wiley Periodicals,
Inc. Naval Research Logistics 60: 599–605, 201
The salvo combat model with area fire

This paper analyzes versions of the salvo model of missile combat where area fire is used by one or both sides in a battle.  While these models share some properties with the area fire Lanchester model and the aimed fire salvo model, they also display some interesting differences, especially over the course of several salvos.  Whereas the relative size of each force is important with aimed fire, with area fire it is the absolute size that matters.  Similarly, while aimed fire exhibits square law behavior, area fire shows approximately linear behavior.  When one side uses area and the other uses aimed fire, the model displays a mix of square and linear law behavior
The impact of operational decisions on the design of salesforce incentives

When facing high levels of overstock inventories, firms often push their salesforce to work harder than usual to attract more demand, and one way to achieve that is to offer attractive incentives. However, most research on the optimal design of salesforce incentives ignores this dependency and assumes that operational decisions of production/inventory management are separable from design of salesforce incentives. We investigate this dependency in the problem of joint salesforce incentive design and inventory/production control. We develop a dynamic Principal‐Agent model with both Moral Hazard and Adverse Selection in which the principal is strategic and risk‐neutral but the agent is myopic and risk‐averse. We find the optimal joint incentive design and inventory control strategy, and demonstrate the impact of operational decisions on the design of a compensation package. The optimal strategy is characterized by a menu of inventory‐dependent salesforce compensation contracts. We show that the optimal compensation package depends highly on the operational decisions; when inventory levels are high, (a) the firm offers a more attractive contract and (b) the contract is effective in inducing the salesforce to work harder than usual. In contrast, when inventory levels are low, the firm can offer a less attractive compensation package, but still expect the salesforce to work hard enough. In addition, we show that although the inventory/production management and the design of salesforce compensation package are highly correlated, information acquisition through contract design allows the firm to implement traditional inventory control policies: a market‐based state‐dependent policy (with a constant base‐stock level when the inventory is low) that makes use of the extracted market condition from the agent is optimal. This work appears to be the first article on operations that addresses the important interplay between inventory/production control and salesforce compensation decisions in a dynamic setting. Our findings shed light on the effective integration of these two significant aspects for the successful operation of a firm. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Naval Research Logistics 61: 320–340, 201
Computational complexity of finding Pareto efficient outcomes for biobjective lot‐sizing models

In this article, we study a biobjective economic lot‐sizing problem with applications, among others, in green logistics. The first objective aims to minimize the total lot‐sizing costs including production and inventory holding costs, whereas the second one minimizes the maximum production and inventory block expenditure. We derive (almost) tight complexity results for the Pareto efficient outcome problem under nonspeculative lot‐sizing costs. First, we identify nontrivial problem classes for which this problem is polynomially solvable. Second, if we relax any of the parameter assumptions, we show that (except for one case) finding a single Pareto efficient outcome is an    N  P   ‐hard task in general. Finally, we shed some light on the task of describing the Pareto frontier. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Naval Research Logistics 61: 386–402, 201
Impact of tax reduction policies on consumer purchase of new automobiles : an analytical investigation with real data-based experiments

We investigate and compare the impact of the tax reduction policies implemented in the United States and China to stimulate consumer purchase of new automobiles and improve manufacturers\u27 profits. The U.S. policy provides each qualifying consumer with a federal income tax deduction on state and local sales and excise taxes paid on the purchase price (up to a cutoff level), whereas the Chinese policy reduces the vehicle sales tax rate for consumers. We observe that these policy designs are consistent with the tax management system and the economic environment in the respective country. We analytically determine the effects of the two tax reduction policies on the automobile sales and the manufacturer\u27s and the retailer\u27s profits. Numerical examples are then used to provide insights on the importance of certain factors that influence the effects of the two policies. Finally, a numerical experiment with sensitivity analysis based on real data is conducted to compare the merits and characteristics of the two policies under comparable conditions. We find that the U.S. policy is better than the Chinese policy in stimulating the sales of high-end automobiles, whereas the Chinese policy is better than the U.S. policy in improving the sales of low-end automobiles. The U.S. policy is slightly more effective in increasing the profitability of the automobile supply chain; but, in general, the Chinese policy is more cost effective. The methodology developed herein can be used to evaluate other tax reduction policies such as those related to the purchase of energy-saving vehicles and to serve as a decision model to guide the choice of alternative tax reduction policies
Environmental regulation in project‐based industries

We study the environmental regulation of industrial activities that are organized as projects. Applications arise in construction, ship and aircraft building, and film making, among other industries. Relative to manufacturing, environmental regulation is different in project‐based industries, due to the uniqueness and geographical diversity of projects, and a lack of product takeback programs. Because the amount of waste and pollution generated by project companies can be large, regulators need environmental policies to ensure reduction of waste and pollution. We consider a regulator who attempts to maximize social welfare. We model this problem as a bilevel nonlinear program. The upper level regulator specifies waste reduction targets, which the lower level project companies meet using waste stream reduction and remediation of pollution, while attempting to control their project costs. We find that high waste diversion targets lead to outcomes with little pollution, but excessive project costs and only modest waste stream reduction. Projects that have lower task precedence density, or that have pollutants with different environmental impacts, show larger increases in project cost and time resulting from regulation. We describe a subsidy for waste stream reduction that coordinates the system, and we estimate the value of coordination. We also describe a bonus that encourages truthful reporting by project companies, and evaluate the relative cost and effectiveness of the subsidy and the bonus. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Naval Research Logistics 62: 228–247, 201
Modeling and solution for the ship stowage planning problem of coils in the steel industry

This is the peer reviewed version of the following article: TANG, L. ...et al., 2015. Modeling and solution for the ship stowage planning problem of coils in the steel industry. Naval Research Logistics, 62(7), pp. 564-581., which has been published in final form at http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/nav.21664. This article may be used for non-commercial purposes in accordance with Wiley Terms and Conditions for Self-Archiving.We consider a ship stowage planning problem where steel coils with known destination ports are to be loaded onto a ship. The coils are to be stowed on the ship in rows. Due to their heavy weight and cylindrical shape, coils can be stowed in at most two levels. Different from stowage problems in previous studies, in this problem there are no fixed positions on the ship for the coils due to their different sizes. At a destination port, if a coil to be unloaded is not at a top position, those blocking it need to be shuffled. In addition, the stability of ship has to be maintained after unloading at each destination port. The objective for the stowage planning problem is to minimize a combination of ship instability throughout the entire voyage, the shuffles needed for unloading at the destination ports, and the dispersion of coils to be unloaded at the same destination port. We formulate the problem as a novel mixed integer linear programming model. Several valid inequalities are derived to help reducing solution time. A tabu\ud
search (TS) algorithm is developed for the problem with the initial solution generated using a construction heuristic. To evaluate the proposed TS algorithm, numerical experiments are carried out on problem instances of three different scales by comparing it with a model-based decomposition heuristic, the classic TS algorithm, the particle swarm optimization algorithm, and the manual method used in practice. The results show that for small problems, the proposed algorithm can generate optimal solutions. For medium and\ud
large practical problems, the proposed algorithm outperforms other methods
Mean residual life of coherent systems consisting of multiple types of dependent components.

Mean residual life is a useful dynamic characteristic to study reliability of a system. It has been widely considered in the literature not only for single unit systems but also for coherent systems. This article is concerned with the study of mean residual life for a coherent system that consists of multiple types of dependent components. In particular, the survival signature based generalized mixture representation is obtained for the survival function of a coherent system and it is used to evaluate the mean residual life function. Furthermore, two mean residual life functions under different conditional events on components’ lifetimes are also defined and studied
Mixed rules in multi-issue allocation situations

Multi-issue allocation situations study problems where an estate must be dividedamong a group of agents. The claim of each agent is a vector specifying the amountclaimed by each agent on each issue. We present a two-stage rule. First, we dividethe estate among the issues following the constrained equal awards rule. Second,the amount assigned to each issue is divided among the agents in proportion to theirdemands on this issue. We apply the rule to two real-world problems: the distributionof natural resources between countries and the distribution of budget for educationand research between universities.Spanish Ministry of Science and Competitiveness | Ref. ECO2017-82241-RSpanish Ministry of Science and Competitiveness | Ref. ECO2014-52616-RSpanish Ministry of Science and Competitiveness | Ref. MTM2014-53395-C3-1-PSpanish Ministry of Science and Competitiveness | Ref. ED431G/01 2016-2019Spanish Ministry of Science and Competitiveness | Ref. ED431C2016-015Xunta de Galicia | Ref. GRC 2015/014Fundación Séneca de la Región de Murcia | Ref. 19320/PI/1
Fast precise point positioning: a system to provide corrections for single and multi-frequency navigation

Fast Precise Point Positioning (Fast-PPP) provides Global Navigation Satellite System corrections in real-time.\ud
Satellite orbits and clock corrections are shown to be accurate to a few centimeters and a few tenths of a nanosecond\ud
which, together with the determination of the fractional part of the ambiguities, enable global high-accuracy positioning with undifferenced Integer Ambiguity Resolution. The new global ionospheric model is shown to provide corrections accurate at the level of 1 Total Electron Content Unit over well-sounded areas and Differential Code Biases at the level of tenths of a nanosecond.\ud
These corrections are assessed with permanent receivers, treated as rovers, located at 100 to 800 kilometers from the reference stations of the ionospheric model. Fast-PPP achieves decimeter-level of accuracy after few minutes, several times faster than single- and dual-frequency ionospheric-free solutions, using a month of Global Positioning System data close to the last Solar Maximum and including equatorial rovers.Postprint (author's final draft
Investigation of metabolite changes in the transition from pre-invasive to invasive cervical cancer measured using H-1 and P-31 magic angle spinning MRS of intact tissue

The aim of this study was to determine the metabolic changes in the transition from pre-invasive to invasive cervical cancer using high-resolution magic angle spinning (HR-MAS) MRS. Biopsy specimens were obtained from women with histologically normal cervix (n = 5), cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN; mild, n = 5; moderate/severe, n = 40), and invasive cancer (n = 23). H-1 HR-MAS MRS data were acquired using a Bruker Avance 11.74 T spectrometer (Carr-Purcell-Meiboom-Gill sequence; TR = 4.8 s; TE = 135 ms; 512 scans; 41 min acquisition). 31 P HR-MAS spectra were obtained from the normal subjects and cancer patients only (as acetic acid applied before tissue sampling in patients with CIN impaired spectral quality) using a H-1-decoupled pulse-acquire sequence (TR = 2.82 s; 2048 scans; 96 min acquisition). Peak assignments were based on values reported in the literature. Peak areas were measured using the AMARES algorithm. Estimated metabolite concentrations were compared between patient diagnostic categories and tissue histology using independent samples t tests. Comparisons based on patient category at diagnosis showed significantly higher estimated concentrations of choline (P = 0.0001) and phosphocholine (P = 0.002) in tissue from patients with cancer than from patients with high-grade dyskaryosis, but no differences between non-cancer groups. Division by histology of the sample also showed increases in choline (P = 0.002) and phosphocholine (P = 0.002) in cancer compared with high-grade CIN tissue. Phosphoethanolamine was increased in cancer compared with normal tissue (P = 0.0001). Estimated concentrations of alanine (P = 0.01) and creatine (P = 0.008) were significantly reduced in normal tissue from cancer patients compared with normal tissue from non-cancer patients. The estimated concentration of choline was significantly increased in CIN tissue from cancer patients compared with CIN tissue from non-cancer patients (P = 0.0001). Estimated concentrations of choline-containing metabolites increased from pre-invasive to invasive cervical cancer. Concurrent metabolite depletion occurs in normal tissue adjacent to cancer tissue. Copyright (C) 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd
Diffusion-weighted imaging of the prostate and rectal wall: comparison of biexponential and monoexponential modelled diffusion and associated perfusion coefficients

This study compares parameters from monoexponential and biexponential modelling of diffusion-weighted imaging of normal and malignant prostate tissue and normal rectal wall tissues. Fifty men with Stage Ic prostate cancer were studied using enclorectal T-2-weighted imaging and diffusion-weighted imaging with 11 diffusion-sensitive values (b-values = 0, 1, 2, 4, 10, 20, 50, 100, 200, 400, 800 s/mm(2)). Regions of interest were drawn within non-malignant central gland and peripheral zone, malignant prostate tissue and normal rectal wall tissue. Both a monoexponential and biexponential model was fitted over various b-value ranges, giving an apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) from the monoexponential model and a diffusion coefficient, perfusion coefficient and perfusion fraction from the biexponential model. In all tissues, over the full range of b-values, the ADC from the monoexponential model was significantly higher than the corresponding diffusion coefficient from the biexponential model. As the minimum b-value increased, the ADC decreased and was equal to the diffusion coefficient for some b-value ranges. The biexponential model best described the data when low b-values were included, suggesting that there is a fast perfusion component. Neither model could distinguish between benign prostate tissues on the basis of diffusion coefficients, but the rectal wall tissue and malignant prostate tissue had significantly lower diffusion coefficients than normal prostate tissues. Perfusion coefficients and fractions were highly variable within the population, so their clinical utility may be limited, but removal of this variable perfusion component from reported diffusion coefficients is important when attributing clinical differences to diffusion within tissues. Copyright (C) 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd
Measuring SPIO and Gd contrast agent magnetization using 3 T MRI

Traditional methods of measuring magnetization in magnetic fluid samples, such as vibrating sample magnetometry (VSM), are typically limited to maximum field strengths of about 1 T. This work demonstrates the ability of MRI to measure the magnetization associated with two commercial MRI contrast agents at 3 T by comparing analytical solutions to experimental imaging results for the field pattern associated with agents in cylindrical vials. The results of the VSM and fitted MRI data match closely. The method represents an improvement over VSM measurements since results are attainable at imaging field strengths. The agents investigated are Feridex, a superparamagnetic iron oxide suspension used primarily for liver imaging, and Magnevist, a paramagnetic, gadolinium-based compound used for tumors, inflammation and vascular lesions. MR imaging of the agents took place in sealed cylindrical vials in the presence of a surrounding volume of deionized water where the effects of the contrast agents had a measurable effect on the water's magnetization in the vicinity of the compartment of contrast agent. A pair of phase images were used to reconstruct a B[subscript 0] fieldmap. The resultant B[subscript 0] maps in the water region, corrected for shimming and container edge effects, were used to predict the agent's magnetization at 3 T. The results were compared with the results from VSM measurements up to 1.2 T and close correlation was observed. The technique should be of interest to those seeking quantification of the magnetization associated with magnetic suspensions beyond the traditional scope of VSM. The magnetization needs to be sufficiently strong (M[subscript s] ≳ 50 Am[superscript 2]/kg Fe for Feridex and X[subscript m] ≳ 5 × 10[superscript −5] m[superscript 3]/kg Gd for Magnevist) for a measurable dipole field in the surrounding water. For this reason, the technique is mostly suitable for undiluted agents.2011 October 11National Institutes of Health (U.S.) (Grant R01 EB007942)National Institutes of Health (U.S.) (Grant R01 EB006847