A high-level computing algorithm for diverging and converging branch nonserial dynamic programming systems

AbstractWe present high-level computing algorithms for efficiently processing the diverging and converging branch systems in nonserial dynamic programming. A special technique in devised for processing the network functions such that the minimum amount of storage is employed. It is shown that if k is the discretization level of the state and decision variables then the space complexities are O(k) and O(k2) for the diverging and converging branch systems, respectively. The resultant time complexities are also developed. These savings in computational complexities enhance the attractiveness of dynamic programming as a tool for processing more complex nonserial systems

Physician Supply and Surgical Demand Forecasting: A Regional Manpower Study

This paper discusses the methods and the results of a forecast for the demand for operative and obstetrical procedures and the supply of anesthesiologists in Cuyahoga County, Ohio. The techniques and results of a ten-year forecast for the demand for and supply of anesthesiologists and auxiliary personnel in greater Cleveland are discussed. Several regression models were used to forecast supply based on population, number of physicians, and the income per capita. The demand models were based on population, age and sex distribution projections, and historical data regarding operative and obstetrical procedures. The results of these "objective" models were then compared to forecasts under uncertainty generated by a panel of experts using the Delphi Method. Alternative states of health care delivery were investigated and implications for future anesthesiologist manpower requirements detailed.

Virtual interpolation of discrete multi-objective programming solutions with probabilistic operation

This work presents a novel framework to address the long term operation of a class of multi-objective programming problems. The proposed approach considers a stochastic operation and evaluates the long term average operating costs/profits. To illustrate the approach, a two-phase method is proposed which solves a prescribed number of K monoobjective problems to identify a set of K points in the Paretooptimal region. In the second phase, one searches for a set of non-dominated probability distributions that define the probability that the system operates at each point selected in the first phase, at any given operation period. Each probability distribution generates a vector of average long-term objectives and one solves for the Pareto-optimal set with respect to the average objectives. The proposed approach can generate virtual operating points with average objectives that need not have a feasible solution with an equal vector of objectives. A few numerical examples are presented to illustrate the proposed method

The political form of the constitution: the separation of powers, rights and representative democracy

According to article 16 of the French Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen of 1789, 'A society where rights are not secured or the separation of powers established has no constitution at all'. Together with representative government, which to a large extent was assimilated to the second, these two principles have defined constitutionalism. In recent years. however, the first has come to predominate. This article suggests an alternative story. I shall argue that both historically and substantively liberal rights-based constitutionalism must be located within a more republican conception of the constitution as a system of politics.’ I begin by analysing the main features and problems of the doctrine of the separation of powers, and its relationship to rights and the rule of law. I then survey the historical development of the theory. I note how it was first combined with organic theories of mixed government and the balancing of powers within the body politic, and then transformed by the view of political societies as a popular construct and incorporated within representative democracy