A decision-theoretic approach to reliable message delivery

We argue that the tools of decision theory need to be taken more seriously in the specification and analysis of systems. We illustrate this by considering a simple problem involving reliable communication, showing how considerations of utility and probability can be used to decide when it is worth sending heartbeat messages and, if they are sent, how often they should be sent.Comment: This is the full version of a paper that appears in the Proceedings of the 12th International Symposium on Distributed Computing, 1998, pp. 89-1

Pricing and Marketing Rules with Brand Loyalty

Many firms face a dynamic trade-off: if price is reduced, the firm attracts new customers who will yield profits in the future, but it also forgoes the opportunity to squeeze profits now from loyal customers. This paper identifies a rule that represents the optimal resolution of this trade-off, in terms of an intuitive modification to the static Lerner rule. We find that the “effective” price elasticity depends on the discount rate used by the firm, on the rate of depreciation of the clientele through exit from the stock of repeat purchasers, and on a weighted sum of the price elasticities of the flow of entries into the stock of repeat-purchasers and the flow of exits from the stock of repeat-purchasers. None of these factors enter the optimal pricing strategy for a firm facing a conventional demand function with instantaneous adjustment, i.e. where consumers are “fast switchers”, rather than repeat-purchasers. We also find optimal rules for marketing investment and for quality of service, which are extensions of the Dorfman-Steiner conditions. The paper shows that our rules, with suitable modifications, are valid for many market structures, including monopolistic competition, pure monopoly and strong cartels, dominant firms and oligopolists that have full commitment ability. In the case of dominant firms and oligopolists that cannot commit to their strategy paths, these simple optimal pricing and marketing rules do not apply.

Elaborating a decentralized market information system

A Decentralized Market Information System (DMIS) that aggregates and provides information about markets is an important component for achieving markets in Grid and Peer-to-Peer systems. The proposed work is the development of a framework for the DMIS, which fulfils the economic provision within the main technical requirements like scalability towards nodes and data attributes and robustness against failures. The proposed work also allows obtaining results concerning the trade-off between economic benefits and technical costs. Introducing dynamic adaptive processes promises improvements in efficiency with regards to distributed queries and routing structures. This research proposal presents and discusses the research questions and challenges, the current knowledge and the research methodology proposed for the development of the DMIS framework.Peer Reviewe

Analysis of Consumable Material Inventory Control in Brake System Company

A good raw material and consumables control planning system is important in the production process so that the process runs according to schedule and target. Brake system company is a manufacturing company engaged in brake systems. Concerning the control of consumable material, this company often experiences overstock in warehouses, causing an overrun in inventory costs and investment cannot develop. One of these conditions can be influenced by the ordering method applied by the company which is still not appropriate. The purpose of this study is to find out and provide proposed to companies related to the cost of consumable inventory by comparing the three methods of determining lots based on Fixed Order Quantity (FOQ), Economic Order Quantity (EOQ), and Fixed Order Quantity Proposed (FOQ Proposed) is the FOQ method combined with the Lot for Lot (LFL) principle to determine the method with the most optimal inventory cost. From the results of the study, it is known that the Proposed FOQ method has the lowest total inventory cost compared to the other two methods. The proposed FOQ approach could reduce inventory costs by up to one-third times the previous cost

Information dissemination algorithms in space deployed ad hoc networks

Based on recent trends, in the next few years there could be a lot of cheap devices placed on the surface of different luminaries like the planet Mars instead of sending one or two expensive space-probes. If there are many cheap instruments on the surface of a planet, it is worth using ad hoc networks. For such a network, using energy saving and robust solutions is crucial. We need a local and automatic coordination because of the far distance and the delays appearing in the interplanetary communication. We have dealt with a special type of ad hoc networks and constructed an information dissemination algorithm called SPIO which can collect and exchange data on a distant planet faster than the nowadays used point-to-point systems

The Effects of Parallel Processing on Update Response Time in Distributed Database Design

Network latency and local update are the most significant components of update response time in a distributed database system. Effectively designed distributed database systems can take advantage of parallel processing to minimize this time. We present a design approach to response time minimization for update transactions in a distributed database. Response time is calculated as the sum of local processing and communication, including transmit time, queuing delays, and network latency. We demonstrate that parallelism has significant impacts on the efficiency of data allocation strategies in the design of high transaction-volume distributed databases

Inventory Planning with Method Q and Method P for Probabilistic Demand on Chrysanthemum Seeds at PT Transplants Indonesia

Fluctuating and uncertain demand is a problem faced by manufacturing firms. The problem can be mitigated by the availability of inventory systems. This inventory serves to ensure the availability of appropriate resources in the right quantity and at the right time, so as to minimize the costs incurred. PT. Transplants Indonesia is a company engaged in the business of chrysanthemum flower in Indonesia. PT. Transplants Indonesia is a subsidiary of Okinawa Flower Agricultural Cooperative Association (OKF) in Okinawa, Japan. The purpose of this company establishment is to meet the demand of farmers who are members of the OKF.  In the case of backorder, on Q method with probabilistic request the size of the lottery (Q) is always fixed for every time the order is made and the order is made if the amount of inventory system has reached a certain level (r) called the reorder point. In method P with probabilistic order requests made according to a fixed interval of time (T) and the ordering does not exceed the maximum inventory limit (R). Total Inventory cost incurred by the company using the method used by the company amounted to Rp.74.995.360,84. The inventory model using the Q method generates a total inventory cost of Rp.70.253.291,46. Meanwhile, inventory model using P method resulted in total inventory cost of Rp.71.529.327,17. So economically, the selected inventory model is the inventory model with the Q method which has a lower total inventory cost value than using the P method.   Keywords— Inventory system, Probabilistic, Backorder, Method Q, Method P, Reorder point