Set Of Structural Properties Research Articles

Optimal joint dynamic pricing, advertising and inventory control model for perishable items with psychic stock effect

In this study, a joint pricing, advertising and inventory control problem will be investigated for a firm selling perishable products with psychic stock effect. The proposed problem is analyzed in the deterministic multi-period setting in which demand at each period depends on not only the amount of inventory displayed and advertising goodwill affected by the firm’s current and past advertising efforts but also selling price and freshness index. The objective is to determine the optimal pricing, advertising, and psychic stock strategies maximizing the discount total profit over the infinite planning horizon. Our theoretical results prove that the firm would adopt a static pricing strategy, and then demonstrate that the optimal paths of the advertising goodwill and psychic stock can be determined uniquely. We also show that the convergence of the advertising goodwill towards its equilibrium is from above or below, depending on the relative location of the initial stock of advertising goodwill with respect to the unique equilibrium stock of advertising goodwill. Moreover, a set of structural properties is developed to explore the relationships among the optimal decisions. Finally, the concluding remarks and suggestions will be provided for future studies.

A dynamic advertising problem when demand is sensitive to the credit period and stock of advertising goodwill

The article formulates a joint dynamic trade credit and advertising problem in which the demand rate varies simultaneously with the length of the credit period offered to the customers and the stock of advertising goodwill depending on the retailer’s current and past advertising efforts. The proposed problem is analysed in the multi-period setting over an infinite horizon in which demand at each period depends on the current and past advertising efforts through the goodwill dynamics. We first show that the retailer would adopt a static credit period strategy, and then demonstrate that the optimal path of the advertising effort is unique and converges monotonically to its corresponding equilibrium over the long run in the opposite direction as the stock of advertising goodwill. Moreover, a set of structural properties is developed to characterise the impacts of model parameters over the optimal decisions. Finally, we offer concluding remarks and suggestions for future studies.

Pricing and lot-sizing decisions for perishable goods when demand depends on selling price, reference price, product freshness, and displayed stocks

Price is an important factor affecting demand rate based on economic and marketing theory. In addition, today's health-conscious consumers prefer a product further from its expiration date because it is fresher and can be stored longer. Furthermore, a large display of goods in a supermarket induces customers to buy more due to its visibility, variety, and seasonality. As a result, we develop a joint pricing and lot-sizing model for retailers selling perishable products in which the demand depends on not only the selling price and reference price but also the product freshness linked to expiration date and displayed stock level. We then formulate the problem as a deterministic model in which the retailer determines the optimal selling prices and ending inventory levels to maximize the discounted total profit. Furthermore, we discuss the retailer's optimal decisions under two scenarios of demand behavior: loss neutrality and loss aversion. Our theoretical analysis shows that the optimal pricing and ending inventory level strategies are both monotonic in time, and the equilibrium of the system is unique for these two scenarios of demand behavior. Finally, a set of structural properties and sensitivity analysis is also developed to characterize the impacts of model parameters on the optimal decisions.

Image-Based Models for Specularity Propagation in Diminished Reality.

The aim of Diminished Reality (DR) is to remove a target object in a live video stream seamlessly. In our approach, the area of the target object is replaced with new texture that blends with the rest of the image. The result is then propagated to the next frames of the video. One of the important stages of this technique is to update the target region with respect to the illumination change. This is a complex and recurrent problem when the viewpoint changes. We show that the state-of-the-art in DR fails in solving this problem, even under simple scenarios. We then use local illumination models to address this problem. According to these models, the variation in illumination only affects the specular component of the image. In the context of DR, the problem is therefore solved by propagating the specularities in the target area. We list a set of structural properties of specularities which we incorporate in two new models for specularity propagation. Our first model includes the same property as the previous approaches, which is the smoothness of illumination variation, but has a different estimation method based on the Thin-Plate Spline. Our second model incorporates more properties of the specularity's shape on planar surfaces. Experimental results on synthetic and real data show that our strategy substantially improves the rendering quality compared to the state-of-the-art in DR.

Structure Determination from Disordered Ensembles of Identical Particles

X-ray scattering techniques have long ranked among the most important methods for studying amorphous materials and other highly disordered targets. Well-established X-ray scattering methods often consist of recording time-averaged scattered intensity maps which, under the Born approximation, straightforwardly reveal information about ensemble-averaged, two-point, electron density correlations within the target. In the case of isotropic targets that consist of disordered ensembles of randomly oriented particles, scattering data are typically reduced to a histogram of electron pair distances (the “pair distribution function,” or PDF). While the information contained in the one-dimensional PDF is limited, a rich set of structural properties can often be determined straightforwardly (e.g., radius of gyration, surface area, short-range correlation length scales, fractal dimension). One of the well-known pinnacles of the methodology is the application of small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS) to solutions of identical biological macromolecules [1–3], which is now routinely used to rapidly determine ab initio low-resolution (>1 nm) protein structures [4].

Further results on structural assignment of linear systems via sensor selection

The problem of assigning structural properties of a linear system through sensor selection is, for a given pair ( A , B ) , to find an output pair ( C , D ) such that the resulting system ( A , B , C , D ) has the pre-specified structural properties, such as the finite and infinite zero structures and the invertibility properties. In this paper, by introducing the notion of infinite zero assignable sets for the pair ( A , B ) , we establish necessary and sufficient conditions for the assignability of a given set of infinite zeros and a set of structural properties which includes the left invertibility property. In establishing these conditions, we develop a numerical algorithm for the construction of the required ( C , D ) .

A graph theoretic approach to the analysis of alliance structure and local grouping in highland New Guinea

Abstract This paper focuses on a set of structural properties which characterize the Gahuku‐Gama, a social and cultural unit in the Eastern Central Highlands of New Guinea. Gahuku‐Gama “society” has been described as a finite network, the members of which are social groups connected by bonds of traditional warfare and alliance. The aims of the paper are (1) to formalize some ordinary English terms which have been applied to this system; (2) to elucidate these properties through the application of graph theoretic concepts and theorems; (3) to use certain of these theorems in the prediction of empirical facts of local grouping; and (4) to suggest that this approach could usefully be adopted in relation to similar sociocultural systems in Highland New Guinea and elsewhere.