Partial Cooperation in Location Choice: Salop’s Model with Three Firms

We consider how three firms compete in a Salop location model and how cooperation in location choice by two of these firms affects the outcomes. We con- sider the classical case of linear transportation costs as a two-stage game in which the firms select first a location on a unit circle along which consumers are dispersed evenly, followed by the competitive selection of a price. Standard analysis restricts itself to purely competitive selection of location; instead, we focus on the situation in which two firms collectively decide about location, but price their products competitively after the location choice has been effectuated. We show that such partial coordination of location is beneficial to all firms, since it reduces the number of equilibria significantly and, thereby, the resulting coordination problem. Subsequently, we show that the case of quadratic transportation costs changes the main conclusions only marginally.

Distributed optimization in transportation and logistics networks

Many important problems in communication networks, transportation networks, and logistics networks are solved by the minimization of cost functions. In general, these can be complex optimization problems involving many variables. However, physicists noted that in a network, a node variable (such as the amount of resources of the nodes) is connected to a set of link variables (such as the flow connecting the node), and similarly each link variable is connected to a number of (usually two) node variables. This enables one to break the problem into local components, often arriving at distributive algorithms to solve the problems. Compared with centralized algorithms, distributed algorithms have the advantages of lower computational complexity, and lower communication overhead. Since they have a faster response to local changes of the environment, they are especially useful for networks with evolving conditions. This review will cover message-passing algorithms in applications such as resource allocation, transportation networks, facility location, traffic routing, and stability of power grids.

Malnutrition and pressure ulcer risk in adults in Australian health care facilities

Aims To determine the effect of nutritional status on the presence and severity of pressure ulcers in statewide? public healthcare facilities, in Queensland, Australia. Research Methods A multicentre, cross sectional audit of nutritional status of a convenience sample of subjects was carried out as part of a large audit of pressure ulcers in a sample of state based public healthcare facilities in 2002 and 2003. Dietitians in 20 hospitals and six residential aged care facilities conducted single day nutritional status audits of 2208 acute and 839 aged care subjects using the Subjective Global Assessment. The effect of nutritional status on the presence, highest stage and number of pressure ulcers was determined by logistic regression in a model controlling for age, gender, medical specialty and facility location. The potential clustering effect of facility was accounted for in the model using an analysis of correlated data approach. Results Subjects with malnutrition had an adjusted odds risk of 2.6 (95% CI 1.8-3.5, p<0.001) of having a pressure ulcer in acute facilities and 2.0 (95% CI 1.5-2.7, p<0.001) for residential aged care facilities. There was also increased odds risk of having a pressure ulcer, having a higher stage pressure ulcer and a higher number of pressure ulcers with increased severity of malnutrition. Conclusion Malnutrition was associated with at least twice the odds risk of having a pressure ulcer of in public healthcare facilities in Queensland. Action must be taken to identify, prevent and treat malnutrition, especially in patients at risk of pressure ulcer.

Characterizing distribution rules for cost sharing games

In noncooperative cost sharing games, individually strategic agents choose resources based on how the welfare (cost or revenue) generated at each resource (which depends on the set of agents that choose the resource) is distributed. The focus is on finding distribution rules that lead to stable allocations, which is formalized by the concept of Nash equilibrium, e.g., Shapley value (budget-balanced) and marginal contribution (not budget-balanced) rules.

Recent work that seeks to characterize the space of all such rules shows that the only budget-balanced distribution rules that guarantee equilibrium existence in all welfare sharing games are generalized weighted Shapley values (GWSVs), by exhibiting a specific 'worst-case' welfare function which requires that GWSV rules be used. Our work provides an exact characterization of the space of distribution rules (not necessarily budget-balanced) for any specific local welfare functions remains, for a general class of scalable and separable games with well-known applications, e.g., facility location, routing, network formation, and coverage games.

We show that all games conditioned on any fixed local welfare functions possess an equilibrium if and only if the distribution rules are equivalent to GWSV rules on some 'ground' welfare functions. Therefore, it is neither the existence of some worst-case welfare function, nor the restriction of budget-balance, which limits the design to GWSVs. Also, in order to guarantee equilibrium existence, it is necessary to work within the class of potential games, since GWSVs result in (weighted) potential games.

We also provide an alternative characterization—all games conditioned on any fixed local welfare functions possess an equilibrium if and only if the distribution rules are equivalent to generalized weighted marginal contribution (GWMC) rules on some 'ground' welfare functions. This result is due to a deeper fundamental connection between Shapley values and marginal contributions that our proofs expose—they are equivalent given a transformation connecting their ground welfare functions. (This connection leads to novel closed-form expressions for the GWSV potential function.) Since GWMCs are more tractable than GWSVs, a designer can tradeoff budget-balance with computational tractability in deciding which rule to implement.

Distributed Placement of Service Facilities in Large-Scale Networks

The effectiveness of service provisioning in largescale networks is highly dependent on the number and location of service facilities deployed at various hosts. The classical, centralized approach to determining the latter would amount to formulating and solving the uncapacitated k-median (UKM) problem (if the requested number of facilities is fixed), or the uncapacitated facility location (UFL) problem (if the number of facilities is also to be optimized). Clearly, such centralized approaches require knowledge of global topological and demand information, and thus do not scale and are not practical for large networks. The key question posed and answered in this paper is the following: "How can we determine in a distributed and scalable manner the number and location of service facilities?" We propose an innovative approach in which topology and demand information is limited to neighborhoods, or balls of small radius around selected facilities, whereas demand information is captured implicitly for the remaining (remote) clients outside these neighborhoods, by mapping them to clients on the edge of the neighborhood; the ball radius regulates the trade-off between scalability and performance. We develop a scalable, distributed approach that answers our key question through an iterative reoptimization of the location and the number of facilities within such balls. We show that even for small values of the radius (1 or 2), our distributed approach achieves performance under various synthetic and real Internet topologies that is comparable to that of optimal, centralized approaches requiring full topology and demand information.

Lagrangian-informed mixed integer programming reformulations

La programmation linéaire en nombres entiers est une approche robuste qui permet de résoudre rapidement de grandes instances de problèmes d'optimisation discrète. Toutefois, les problèmes gagnent constamment en complexité et imposent parfois de fortes limites sur le temps de calcul. Il devient alors nécessaire de développer des méthodes spécialisées afin de résoudre approximativement ces problèmes, tout en calculant des bornes sur leurs valeurs optimales afin de prouver la qualité des solutions obtenues. Nous proposons d'explorer une approche de reformulation en nombres entiers guidée par la relaxation lagrangienne. Après l'identification d'une forte relaxation lagrangienne, un processus systématique permet d'obtenir une seconde formulation en nombres entiers. Cette reformulation, plus compacte que celle de Dantzig et Wolfe, comporte exactement les mêmes solutions entières que la formulation initiale, mais en améliore la borne linéaire: elle devient égale à la borne lagrangienne. L'approche de reformulation permet d'unifier et de généraliser des formulations et des méthodes de borne connues. De plus, elle offre une manière simple d'obtenir des reformulations de moins grandes tailles en contrepartie de bornes plus faibles. Ces reformulations demeurent de grandes tailles. C'est pourquoi nous décrivons aussi des méthodes spécialisées pour en résoudre les relaxations linéaires. Finalement, nous appliquons l'approche de reformulation à deux problèmes de localisation. Cela nous mène à de nouvelles formulations pour ces problèmes; certaines sont de très grandes tailles, mais nos méthodes de résolution spécialisées les rendent pratiques.

Tipos de lógica utilizadas en la toma de decisiones estratégicas de marketing

Para el administrador el proceso de la toma de decisiones es uno de sus mayores retos y responsabilidades, ya que en su desarrollo se debe definir el camino más acertado en un sin número de alternativas, teniendo en cuenta los obstáculos sociales, políticos y económicos del entorno empresarial. Para llegar a la decisión adecuada no hay que perder de vista los objetivos y metas propuestas, además de tener presente el proceso lógico, detectando, analizando y demostrando el porqué de esa elección. Consecuentemente el análisis que propone esta investigación aportara conocimientos sobre los tipos de lógica utilizados en la toma de decisiones estratégicas al administrador para satisfacer las demandas asociadas con el mercadeo para que de esta manera se pueda generar y ampliar eficientemente las competencia idóneas del administrador en la inserción internacional de un mercado laboral cada vez mayor (Valero, 2011). A lo largo de la investigación se pretende desarrollar un estudio teórico para explicar la relación entre la lógica y la toma de decisiones estratégicas de marketing y como estos conceptos se combinan para llegar a un resultado final. Esto se llevara a cabo por medio de un análisis de planes de marketing, iniciando por conceptos básicos como marketing, lógica, decisiones estratégicas, dirección de marketing seguido de los principios lógicos y contradicciones que se pueden llegar a generar entre la fundamentación teórica

Two-level network design with intermediate facilities: An application to electrical distribution systems

We consider the two-level network design problem with intermediate facilities. This problem consists of designing a minimum cost network respecting some requirements, usually described in terms of the network topology or in terms of a desired flow of commodities between source and destination vertices. Each selected link must receive one of two types of edge facilities and the connection of different edge facilities requires a costly and capacitated vertex facility. We propose a hybrid decomposition approach which heuristically obtains tentative solutions for the vertex facilities number and location and use these solutions to limit the computational burden of a branch-and-cut algorithm. We test our method on instances of the power system secondary distribution network design problem. The results show that the method is efficient both in terms of solution quality and computational times. (C) 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

International strategy: is it meeting the challenge?

The paper proposes an IS process model comprising inputs, development, outputs and a feedback loop based on performance measurement and its interpretation. The feedback impacts on the inputs and development components. Inputs are comprised of market information. human resources, diversity, value creation and host country environmental factors. Development includes preparation and learning. planning and scrutinising partnerships. anticipating impacts of globalisation and experience effects. Outputs comprise structure, scope of operations, target countries. facility location and positioning. Performance interpretation explains rapid and major changes in IS outputs, such as structure and business unit portfolios, whilst process complexity explains observed output similarities for organisations reacting to similar inputs and suggests an evolutionary approach in their determination.

International strategy : is it meeting the challenge?

International strategy (IS) is the approach by which an organisation's capabilities and resources are directed to generate value utilising the global market's opportunities (and risks). Many of the largest multinationals invest significant resources in their IS, however, the literature does not offer any substantive model for the process. This paper presents a model of the IS process which comprises two parts, the first part is made up of inputs, development and outputs and the second comprises a feedback loop based on organisational performance measurement and its interpretation which impacts on the first part stages of inputs and development. The content of the model is explained and justified using examples of practice. Inputs are comprised of market information, human resources, diversity and value creation and host country environmental factors. Development is comprised of preparation and learning, planning and scrutinising partnerships, anticipating impacts of globalisation, anticipating impacts of technology, location, experience effects, planning competencies, planning for cost effectiveness, scenario planning, planning structures and operations, leadership and ethics. Outputs are comprised of structure, scope of operations, target countries, facility location and positioning. Performance interpretation explains rapid and major changes in IS outputs, such as structure
and business unit portfolios, whilst process complexity explains observed output similarities for organisations reacting to similar inputs and suggests an evolutionary approach in their determination.

Bounded lower subdifferentiability optimization techniques : applications

In this article we develop a global optimization algorithm for quasiconvex programming where the objective function is a Lipschitz function which may have "flat parts". We adapt the Extended Cutting Angle method to quasiconvex functions, which reduces significantly the number of iterations and objective function evaluations, and consequently the total computing time. Applications of such an algorithm to mathematical programming problems inwhich the objective function is derived from economic systems and location problems are described. Computational results are presented.

Análise da acessibilidade urbana para o planejamento da urbanização de interesse social

An analysis of housing issues in the city of Canela (RS, Brazil) has been made in 2008 as part of the development of the Master Plan for Housing. The present paper deals with one component of this analysis, which is the assessment of urban accessibility for low-income population, and its consequences on the treatment of the problem of current shortage of low-income housing and the future demand from population growth until 2020. A three steps method is applied: (i) urban mobility is assessed and mapped on the basis of the road system and the routes of public transport; (ii) accessibility to different urban services, such as public education and health, recreation, consumption and jobs are measured and mapped considering the location of urban facilities, population distribution divided by income and age, and urban mobility; (iii) one map for urban accessibility is produced as a result of the weighted combination of accessibility to different urban facilities. This final urban accessibility map is then overlayed to empty urban lots with size and land value appropriate to low-income housing, and a simulation of their development over the future has been made. The lots with higher accessibility were selected, and the impact of urban development was assessed on the capacity of education facilities. Based on this study, we made some preliminary suggestions for widening places in some schools, the need for a new education facility (location and size) and the extension of public transport for an area with low accessibility.

Proposta de localização de uma unidade de tratamento de óleo e gordura residual de fritura na cidade do Natal/RN para produção de biodiesel

This work addresses biodiesel by transesterification from the use of waste frying oil as a possible technological alternative for both reducing greenhouse gas emissions and by presenting themselves as an environmental call to designate a rational use of oil when no longer played in the environment to become renewable energy. It has proposed location of a residual oil and fat treatment plant to produce biodiesel, using models of Location and Routing for the improvement of routes. To achieve the goal, questionnaires were administered in establishments that use oil or vegetable fat in their productive activities in order to quantify the residue, to analyze actions and environmental perception of people who work directly with the residue on the destination you are being given to oil and fat used. It has indicated using of two single setup location, the method of Center of Gravity and the model of Ardalan, a geographical point that minimizes the costs of transporting waste to the treatment plant. Actions have been proposed for the improvement of collection routes this residue using the Routing Method of Scanning, as an illustration. The results demonstrated the lack of knowledge of the people who deal directly with large amounts of waste, on the environmental impacts caused by their incorrect disposal. The models used were uniform since point out to neighborhoods in similar regions. The neighborhoods of Lagoa Nova / Morro Branco (Ardalan) and Nova Descoberta (Center of Gravity) as ideal for the installation of treatment plant. However, it is suggested to be tested other models that take into account new variables than those used (supply of waste and the distance between points). The routing through the method of scanning has shown that it is possible, in a simple way to optimize routes in order to reduce distances and therefore the logistics costs in the collection of such waste. Introducing a route as a test to gather the twenty largest oil suppliers used in sample frying, using as a main factor time 8 hour of working shift every day

Melhoria da segurança pública: uma proposta para alocação de unidades policiais utilizando o modelo das p-medianas e do caixeiro viajante

The decrease in crime is one of the core issues that cause concern in society today. This study aims to propose improvements to public safety from the choice of points to the location of police units, ie the points which support the car and the police. For this, three models were developed in order to assist decision making regarding the best placement of these bases. The Model of Police Units Routing has the intention to analyze the current configuration of a given region and develop optimal routes for round preventative. The Model of Allocation and Routing for New Police Units (MARNUP) used the model of facility location called p-median weighted and traveling salesman problem (TSP) combined aiming an ideal setting for regions that do not yet have support points or to assess how far the distribution is present in relation to that found in solution. The Model Redefinition and Routing Unit Police (MRRUP) seek to change the current positioning taking into account the budgetary constraints of the decision maker. To verify the applicability of these models we used data from 602 points to instances of police command that is responsible for the capital city of Natal. The city currently has 31 police units for 36 of these 19 districts and police have some assistance. This reality can lead to higher costs and higher response times for answering emergency calls. The results of the models showed that in an ideal situation it is possible to define a distance of 500 km/round, whereas in this 900 km are covered by approximately round. However, a change from three-point lead reduced to 700 km / round which represents a decrease of 22% in the route. This reduction should help improve response time to emergency care, improving the level of service provided by the increase of solved cases, reducing police shifts and routing preventive patrols