Inverse Combinatorial Optimization: A Survey on Problems, Methods, and Results

Given a (combinatorial) optimization problem and a feasible solution to it, the corresponding inverse optimization problem is to find a minimal adjustment of the cost function such that the given solution becomes optimum.Several such problems have been studied in the last twelve years. After formalizing the notion of an inverse problem and its variants, we present various methods for solving them. Then we discuss the problems considered in the literature and the results that have been obtained. Finally, we formulate some open problems.     

生存理性如何影响农户的差别化生产

在食品安全威胁下,农户重新定义了“为自家生产”和“为市场生产”的差别化生产行为。基于经济理性行为假设认为农户存在以确保自家食品安全为动机的生存理性。根据在5省区收集的827份农村入户调研数据,对农户差别化生产行为进行具体分析,描述了差别化生产行为总体特征,并测量农户食品安全自我保护意识、威胁感知程度和信息渠道等因素。运用Probit模型验证了命题：以食品安全自我保护意识为特征的生存理性,支配了农户为确保自家消费安全而进行的差别化生产。     

技术进步、生产方式转型与中国生猪养殖温室气体减排

基于技术水平和规模化水平时空差异,收集不同养殖模式生长周期、出栏量等关键数据,对全国和各省生猪养殖碳排放量进行估算。结果表明,1998-2015年,全国生猪养殖碳排放量呈震荡上升趋势,从1.08亿吨CO2当量增加到1.33亿吨 CO2当量;规模化养殖逐渐取代散养成为碳排放主体,2015年其排放量占比达到73.57%;四川、湖南、河南、山东等生猪主产省份碳排放量居全国前列;LMDI模型的分解结果表明,生猪产量扩张是碳排放增长的主要驱动力,推动碳排放量增长43.93%,技术进步和养殖规模化则将碳排放增长削减了近一半。因此,提高养殖技术、推动规模化养殖、应用沼气池处理粪污将是重要的温室气体减排措施。     

车用天然气储气技术

天然气用作汽车的代用燃料,具有储量丰富、价格便宜;辛烷值高、燃烧充分;低硫、低氮、无灰、环境污染少等优点。但是,目前的压缩天然气储气技术存在储气压力高、储气量小、续驶里程短等缺点,严重制约着天然气汽车应用领域的扩展。对5种车用天然气储气技术进行了分析讨论后,指出了吸附储存和近临界流体储存天然气技术在天然气汽车领域将有着广阔的应用前景。     

Multiphase experiments in practice: A look back

Multiphase experiments are introduced and an overview of their design and analysis as it is currently practised is given via an account of their development since 1955 and a literature survey. Methods that are available for designing and analysing them are outlined, with an emphasis on making explicit the role of the model in their design. The availability of software and its use is described in detail. Overall, while multiphase designs have been applied in areas such as plant breeding, plant pathology, greenhouse experimentation, product storage, gene expression studies, and sensory evaluation, their deployment has been limited.     

煤矿瓦斯爆炸事故单危险源风险度量模型研究

本文研究了煤矿瓦斯爆炸事故危险源的分类,把危险源划分为人的不安全行为、机器设备不安全状态、环境不安全特征和管理缺陷四大类,并根据煤矿现场调查各类危险源的数据以及相应数学方法的特点,提出煤矿瓦斯爆炸事故人、机器设备(物)、环境、管理四类危险源的风险度量方法,在此基础上构建四类危险源的风险度量模型。研究表明,危险源的风险度量模型由风险发生的可能性、危险源重要度以及事故导致的损失构成;危险源风险发生的可能性,在具体应用中可以采用各类危险源的不可靠度、故障率等来衡量;危险源在事故中的重要度可以通过分析事故故障树种要素结构重要性获取。根据风险评价的结果,可以对危险源进行分级排序,从而为煤矿事故单危险源的控制提供依据。     

Lung Cancer Risk from Radon in Marcellus Shale Gas in Northeast U.S. Homes

The amount of radon in natural gas varies with its source. Little has been published about the radon from shale gas to date, making estimates of its impact on radon‐induced lung cancer speculative. We measured radon in natural gas pipelines carrying gas from the Marcellus Shale in Pennsylvania and West Virginia. Radon concentrations ranged from 1,520 to 2,750 Bq/m³ (41–74 pCi/L), and the throughput‐weighted average was 1,983 Bq/m³ (54 pCi/L). Potential radon exposure due to the use of Marcellus Shale gas for cooking and space heating using vent‐free heaters or gas ranges in northeastern U.S. homes and apartments was assessed. Though the measured radon concentrations are higher than what has been previously reported, it is unlikely that exposure from natural gas cooking would exceed 1.2 Bq/m³ (<1% of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's action level). Using worst‐case assumptions, we estimate the excess lifetime (70 years) lung cancer risk associated with cooking to be 1.8×10^?4 (interval spanning 95% of simulation results: 8.5×10^?5, 3.4×10^?4). The risk profile for supplemental heating with unvented gas appliances is similar. Individuals using unvented gas appliances to provide primary heating may face lifetime risks as high as 3.9×10^?3. Under current housing stock and gas consumption assumptions, expected levels of residential radon exposure due to unvented combustion of Marcellus Shale natural gas in the Northeast United States do not result in a detectable change in the lung cancer death rates.     

Zen and the art of aut-ethnography: a tribute to Robert M. Pirsig

With the passing of Robert M. Pirsig, I felt that it was an appropriate time to write a tribute to his work and the influence it has had on my own theorising in regard to autistic ways of being. This reflection utilises the concept of an ‘aut-ethnography’ to examine passages that I had highlighted word by word when I first read Pirsig’s book: Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance. These fragments contain links to a number of theoretical ‘lines of flight’ within my own work and that of others, from his concepts of dynamic ‘quality’ to his discussion on the tension between scientific method and lived experience.     

Adaptive phase I/II clinical trials for drug combination assessment in oncology using the outcomes of each cycle

Many new anticancer agents can be combined with existing drugs, as combining a number of drugs may be expected to have a better therapeutic effect than monotherapy owing to synergistic effects. Furthermore, to drive drug development and to reduce the associated cost, there has been a growing tendency to combine these as phase I/II trials. With respect to phase I/II oncology trials for the assessment of dose combinations, in the existing methodologies in which efficacy based on tumor response and safety based on toxicity are modeled as binary outcomes, it is not possible to enroll and treat the next cohort of patients unless the best overall response has been determined in the current cohort. Thus, the trial duration might be potentially extended to an unacceptable degree. In this study, we proposed a method that randomizes the next cohort of patients in the phase II part to the dose combination based on the estimated response rate using all the available observed data upon determination of the overall response in the current cohort. We compared the proposed method to the existing method using simulation studies. These demonstrated that the percentage of optimal dose combinations selected in the proposed method is not less than that in the existing method and that the trial duration in the proposed method is shortened compared to that in the existing method. The proposed method meets both ethical and financial requirements, and we believe it has the potential to contribute to expedite drug development.     

Limit Theorems for Semi-Markov Queues and Their Applications

We begin by definition of semi-Markov flow and discussion of its properties. Asymptotic behavior of multi-server and single-server queueing systems is studied under assumption of time-compression or service time growth. The results obtained are used for calculation of large systems reliability. Statistical estimates of parameters involved are also provided.