The value of information systems for product recovery management

This article sheds light on the role of information systems in product recovery management. We first develop analytical models and then provide a numerical example to determine under what conditions investments in Information-intensive Product Recovery Systems (IPRS) are economically justifiable for manufacturers and when policy-makers need to consider facilitating their implementation. The results of the analytical models indicate that the recovery network (collection) structure and product characteristics determine if precision improvements or increased sorting speed associated with IS investments will lead to higher profit gains. Manufacturers should carefully assess conflicting impacts of current manufacturing and recycling technology trends on the value of IPRS. Implementing IPRS might end up reducing manufacturers' profits under a highly time efficient decentralised collection structure. We show that negotiations with competitors about IPRS implementation may lead to a win–win situation and allow consumers to enjoy the lowest product price if the binding force of the agreement is strong. Otherwise, some manufacturers follow free-rider strategies. This article has immediate application to manufacturers' IS strategy and to government policy-makers considering investing in and/or structuring product recovery closed-loop supply chain processes within their jurisdictions. It also opens a potential stream of research concerning the role of IPRS to automate, informate and transform closed-loop supply chains for eco-efficiency.     

Analysis of microbending of CuZn37 brass foils based on strain gradient hardening models

Microbending experiments of brass foils were conducted and demonstrated clear size effects, i.e., the normalized bending moment increased with the reduction of foil thickness. The experiments were modeled using the classical plasticity model and three strain-gradient plasticity models. A modified Nix-Gao model was proposed to consider the number of twins across the thickness direction in strain hardening. It was found that the proposed model could better predict the normalized bending moment for both fine-grain and coarse-grain foils and the proposed equation for material intrinsic length could better capture the physics of material deformation. Furthermore, micro-hardness distributions in the bending area were measured and obvious lower-hardness region was found in the middle layer of fine-grain foils instead of coarse-grain foils. This indicates that the modified Nix-Gao model and the assumption of fully plastic bending worked better for coarse-grain foils than for fine-grain foils.     

Using OR to adapt supply chain management best practices to humanitarian logistics

The demand for humanitarian aid is extraordinarily large and it is increasing. In contrast, the funding for humanitarian operations does not seem to be increasing at the same rate. Humanitarian logistics has the challenge of allocating scarce resources to complex operations in an efficient way. After acquiring sufficient contextual knowledge, academics can use operations research (OR) to adapt successful supply chain management best practices to humanitarian logistics. We present two cases of OR applications to field vehicle fleet management in humanitarian operations. Our research shows that by using OR to adapt supply chain best practices to humanitarian logistics, significant improvements can be achieved.     

Algorithms for computing triangular decomposition of polynomial systems

We discuss algorithmic advances which have extended the pioneer work of Wu on triangular decompositions. We start with an overview of the key ideas which have led to either better implementation techniques or a better understanding of the underlying theory. We then present new techniques that we regard as essential to the recent success and for future research directions in the development of triangular decomposition methods.     

牛乳中副结核分枝杆菌套式PCR检测方法的建立

目的建立牛乳中副结核分枝杆菌套式PCR检测方法,以便快速检测牛奶中副结核分枝杆菌。方法在制备的液体培养基中培养副结核分枝杆菌T、P18、P10,提取基因组DNA,应用DNAstar引物设计软件,根据副结核分枝杆菌独特的稳定性插入片段IS900设计内、外引物,建立检测牛乳中副结核分枝杆菌的套式PCR方法,并对该法的敏感性、特异性进行验证。结果用所建立的方法已成功扩增出目的基因,大小与预期一致;该法的敏感性为102个细菌/ml,特异性试验结果显示,除含副结核分枝杆菌的乳样为阳性外,含其他细菌的乳样均为阴性,表明本方法特异性强。结论已成功建立套式PCR检测方法,可用于牛乳中副结核分枝杆菌的检测。     

DECENTRALIZED SUPPLY CHAIN FORMATION USING MAX‐SUM LOOPY BELIEF PROPAGATION

Supply chain formation is the process by which a set of producers within a network determine the subset of these producers able to form a chain to supply goods to one or more consumers at the lowest cost. This problem has been tackled in a number of ways, including auctions, negotiations, and argumentation‐based approaches. In this paper we show how this problem can be cast as an optimization of a pairwise cost function. Optimizing this class of energy functions is NP‐hard but efficient approximations to the global minimum can be obtained using loopy belief propagation (LBP). Here we detail a max‐sum LBP‐based approach to the supply chain formation problem, involving decentralized message‐passing between supply chain participants. Our approach is evaluated against a well‐known decentralized double‐auction method and an optimal centralized technique, showing several improvements on the auction method: it obtains better solutions for most network instances which allow for competitive equilibrium (Competitive equilibrium in Walsh and Wellman is a set of producer costs which permits a Pareto optimal state in which agents in the allocation receive non‐negative surplus and agents not in the allocation would acquire non‐positive surplus by participating in the supply chain) while also optimally solving problems where no competitive equilibrium exists, for which the double‐auction method frequently produces inefficient solutions.     

连续时间完全服务与门限服务两级轮询系统性能研究

在信息分组以连续时间规律到达系统的基础上，对于轮询系统中不同优先级的业务问题，提出区分优先级的两级轮询服务模型。首先，在该模型中，低优先级站点采用门限服务，高优先级站点采用完全服务；然后，在高优先级转低优先级时，将传输服务与转移查询并行处理来降低服务器在查询转换期间所耗费的时间，提高轮询系统的效率；最后，运用马尔可夫链和概率母函数的方法建立了系统的数学模型，通过对数学模型精确解析，得到了连续时间两级服务系统每个站点的平均排队队长和平均等待时间的表达式，精确解析出平均排队队长和平均等待时间的值。仿真实验结果表明：理论计算值与实验仿真值近似相等，说明理论分析正确合理。该模型既能保障低优先级站点服务质量，又能为高优先级站点提供优质服务。     

Blockchain in global supply chains and cross border trade: a critical synthesis of the state-of-the-art,challenges and opportunities

Blockchain possesses the potential of transforming global supply chain management. Gartner predicts that blockchain could be able to track $2?T of goods and services in their movement across the globe by 2023, and blockchain will be a more than $3 trillion business by 2030. Nowadays, a growing number of blockchain initiatives are disrupting traditional business models in each sector. In this paper, we provide a timely and holistic overview of the state-of-the-art, challenges, gaps and opportunities in global supply chain and trade operations for both the private sector and governmental agencies, by synthesising a wide range of resources from business leaders, global international organisations, leading supply chain consulting firms, research articles, trade magazines and conferences. We then identify collaborative schema and future research directions for industry, government, and academia to jointly work together in ensuring that the full potential of blockchain is unleashed amidst the socioeconomic, geopolitical and technological disruptions that global supply chains and trade are facing.     

On monitoring the process mean of autocorrelated observations with measurement errors using the w-of-w runs-rules scheme

Runs-rules have been widely used since the 1950s in industrial and nonindustrial process monitoring applications to improve the performance of basic and other traditional monitoring schemes. However, none of the studies on runs-rules have accounted for a process with a combined effect of measurement errors and autocorrelation. Hence, in this paper, the use of the w-of-w runs-rules to improve the performance of the Shewhart $\overline{X}$ scheme using an additive model with a constant variance and a first-order autoregressive model is proposed. To reduce the combined negative effect of measurement errors and autocorrelation, we implement a sampling strategy based on rational subgroups in which (a) multiple measurements per item are taken (instead of a standard single measurement) and (b) non-neighboring observations are gathered. Moreover, the latter sampling strategy is incorporated into the values of probability elements of a Markov chain matrix which is used to derive some closed-form expressions for the zero- and steady-state run-length distribution. The main finding of this study is that, with respect to some overall performance measures, the proposed scheme outperforms the existing Shewhart $\overline{X}$ scheme by a significant margin. A real-life example is used to illustrate the practical implementation of the proposed scheme.