Dynamic pricing models for electronic business

Dynamic pricing is the dynamic adjustment of prices to consumers depending upon the value these customers attribute to a product or service. Today’s digital economy is ready for dynamic pricing; however recent research has shown that the prices will have to be adjusted in fairly sophisticated ways, based on sound mathematical models, to derive the benefits of dynamic pricing. This article attempts to survey different models that have been used in dynamic pricing. We first motivate dynamic pricing and present underlying concepts, with several examples, and explain conditions under which dynamic pricing is likely to succeed. We then bring out the role of models in computing dynamic prices. The models surveyed include inventory-based models, data-driven models, auctions, and machine learning. We present a detailed example of an e-business market to show the use of reinforcement learning in dynamic pricing

The contrasting features of Asian summer monsoon during surplus and deficient rainfall over India

An endeavour is made to distinguish the mean summer monsoon features during surplus and deficient monsoon seasons. Based on all-India summer monsoon rainfall, over 42 years (1958-99), seven surplus and ten deficient monsoon seasons are identified. Making use of daily averaged (00 Z and 12 Z) reanalysis data sets from the National Center for Environmental Prediction-National Center for Atmospheric Research for the corresponding surplus and deficient monsoon seasons, the mean circulation characteristics and large-scale energetics are examined. The circulation features denote that the cross equatorial flow, low-level jet and tropical easterly jet are stronger during a surplus monsoon. Further, strong Tibetan anticyclonic flow characterizes a surplus monsoon. The large-scale balances of kinetic energy, heat and moisture show a significantly large quantity of diabatic heating, adiabatic generation of kinetic energy, and horizontal convergence of heat and moisture during the surplus monsoon season compared with the deficient state. The regions with statistically significant difference between surplus and deficient monsoon seasons are delineated by a Student's t-test at the 95% confidence level. The remarkable aspect noticed in this study is that the Arabian Sea branch of the monsoon circulation is more vigorous during a surplus monsoon season, whereas the eastern Bay of Bengal branch is stronger during a deficient monsoon. The various large-scale budget terms of kinetic energy, heat and moisture are found to be consistent and in agreement with the seasonal monsoon activity over India

The Indian summer monsoon as revealed by the NCMRWF system

In this study, we present the mean seasonal features of the Indian summer monsoon circulation in the National Centre for Medium Range Weather Forecasting (NCMRWF) global data assimilation and forecast system. The large-scale budgets of heat and moisture are examined in the analyzed and model atmosphere. The daily operational analyses and forecasts (day 1 through day 5) produced for the summer seasons comprising June, July and August of 1995 and 1993 have been considered for the purpose. The principal aim of the study is two-fold. Primarily, to comprehend the influence of the systematic errors over the Indian summer monsoon, secondarily, to analyze the performance of the model in capturing the interseasonal variability. The heat and moisture balances show reduction in the influx of heat and moisture in the model forecasts compared to the analyzed atmosphere over the monsoon domain. Consequently, the diabatic heating also indicates reducing trend with increase in the forecast period. In effect, the strength of Indian summer monsoon, which essentially depends on these parameters, weakens considerably in the model forecasts. Despite producing feeble monsoon circulation, the model captures interseasonal variability realistically. Although, 1995 and 1993 are fairly normal monsoon seasons, the former received more rainfall compared to the latter in certain pockets of the monsoon domain. This is clearly indicated by the analyzed and model atmosphere in terms of energetics

Sinusoidal Excitations in Two Component Bose-Einstein Condensates

The non-linear coupled Gross-Pitaevskii equation governing the dynamics of the two component Bose-Einstein condensate (TBEC) is shown to admit pure sinusoidal, propagating wave solutions in quasi one dimensional geometry. These solutions, which exist for a wide parameter range, are then investigated in the presence of a harmonic oscillator trap with time dependent scattering length. This illustrates the procedure for coherent control of these modes through temporal modulation of the parameters, like scattering length and oscillator frequency. We subsequently analyzed this system in an optical lattice, where the occurrence of an irreversible phase transition from superfluid to insulator phase is seen.Comment: 6 pages, 1 figur

Postmastectomy chest wall radiation of left-sided carcinoma breast - a dosimetric comparison between electrons and photons

Background: For carcinoma breast patients requiring post mastectomy radiation therapy (PMRT), tangential photon beam (PB) is commonly used technique. The physical nature of electrons results in sharp dose fall off and reduces organs at risk (OAR) doses. Aim of the present study is to compare the coverage of chest wall and doses received by OARs – heart and lung between electron and photon beam plans in left sided breast cancer patients requiring PMRT.Methods: This study was done in 22 left sided carcinoma breast patients treated at GSL Medical College between May to December 2017. Both tangential PB plans and electron beam (EB) plans were generated on simulation computed tomography (CT) for each patient and both plans were compared. A dose of 50 Gy was prescribed to planning target volume (PTV) in 25 fractions.Results: The PB plans provided superior homogeneity index (HI) and conformity index CI compared to the EB plans (p<0.05). There was significant difference in favour of electron-beam plans for mean heart dose (p=0.0312), V25 Gy (p=0.029), V45 Gy (p=0.001) and V20 Gy of left lung (p=0.042). There was no significant difference in mean lung dose.Conclusions: Dosimetric data from this study suggests that PMRT with the electron beam can reduce doses to the heart and left lung with acceptable target coverage. It needs further research in the clinical setting

Three particle superstring amplitudes with massive legs

On-shell superspaces and associated spinor helicity techniques give an efficient formulation of the Ward identities of on-shell supersymmetry for scattering amplitudes and supply tools to construct their solutions. Based on these techniques in this paper the general solutions of the Ward identities are presented for three particle scattering amplitudes with one, two or three massive legs for simple supersymmetry in ten and eight dimensions. It is shown in examples how these solutions may be used to obtain concrete amplitudes for the closed (IIB) and open superstring in a flat background. Explicit results include all three point amplitudes with one massive leg whose functional form is shown to be dictated completely by super-Poincare symmetry. The resulting surprisingly simple series only involves massive superfields labelled by completely symmetric little group representations. The extension to more general explicit three and higher point amplitudes in string theory is initiated. In appendices the field content of the fundamental massive superfields of the open and closed superstring are listed in terms of the Dynkin labels of a variety of groups which may be of independent interest.Comment: 45 pages. v2: typos corrected, references adde

Coherent gluon production in very high energy heavy ion collisions

The early stages of a relativistic heavy-ion collision are examined in the framework of an effective classical SU(3) Yang-Mills theory in the transverse plane. We compute the initial energy and number distributions, per unit rapidity, at mid-rapidity, of gluons produced in high energy heavy ion collisions. We discuss the phenomenological implications of our results in light of the recent RHIC data.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figure

Performance of broilers on sorghum-based diets

The effect of replacing maize with sorghum grain on the performance of broilers was studied. Grain from 4 improved Sorghum bicolor cultivars (CSH 16, CSV 15, PSV 16 and S 35) and one traditional yellow variety were used to replace maize (control diet) in the starter (1-4 weeks) and finisher rations (5-6 weeks) of broilers by 50, 75 and 100% levels. All diets were isonitrogenous and isocaloric and were homogeneous for lysine, methionine and cystine levels. One-day-old 512 commercial Cobb female broilers were divided into 64 groups with 16 dietary treatments and 4 replicates per treatment, with 8 birds in each. In a second trial, sorghum replacement was conducted without homogenizing the diets for nitrogen and energy contents. The study lasted for 6 weeks. It was shown that the liveweight gain and feed intake of broilers was statistically similar in sorghum diets at all inclusion levels compared to the control diet. However, the feed conversion efficiency of broilers in the 100% sorghum diet was significantly higher compared to the maize diet (P=0.05). A better feed conversion efficiency was found with the CSV 15, CSH 16, PSV 16 and the local cultivars at 100% inclusion levels. However, the yellow pigmentation of the skin and carcass of the broilers was better in the maize diet compared to the sorghum diets. Cost varied among and within cultivars at different inclusion levels, and was lower in CSV 15, PSV 16, S 35 and local sorghum cultivar-based diets. Cost was also much lower in CSV 15, PSV 16 and local sorghum cultivars at 100% inclusion level compared to maize. Feed cost per kg liveweight gain was lower with CSV 15 (Rs 17.16) and PSV 16 cultivars (Rs 17.62) compared to maize (Rs 18.02). Although pelleting increased feed costs (by Rs 0.25/kg), it also improved broiler production efficiency compared to mash in sorghum diets. Inclusion of Stylosanthes sp. leaf meal at 3% in 100% sorghum-based diets favourably improved the shank and skin colour of the carcass. Carcass yield and abdominal fat of broilers fed sorghum, sorghum + Stylosanthes sp. and maize diets were similar. In conclusion, the inclusion/replacement of sorghum in maize-based diets and pelleting improves the feed conversion ratio and decreases the total feed costs in broiler production

Strange stars in Krori-Barua space-time

The singularity space-time metric obtained by Krori and Barua\cite{Krori1975} satisfies the physical requirements of a realistic star. Consequently, we explore the possibility of applying the Krori and Barua model to describe ultra-compact objects like strange stars. For it to become a viable model for strange stars, bounds on the model parameters have been obtained. Consequences of a mathematical description to model strange stars have been analyzed.Comment: 9 pages (two column), 12 figures. Some changes have been made. " To appear in European Physical Journal C

Effectiveness of early intervention programs for parents of preterm infants: a meta-review of systematic reviews

Background: Various intervention programs exist for parents of preterm babies and some systematic reviews (SRs) have synthesised the evidence of their effectiveness. These reviews are, however, limited to specific interventions, components, or outcomes, and a comprehensive evidence base is lacking. The aim of this meta-review was to appraise and meta-synthesise the evidence from existing SRs to provide a comprehensive evidence base on the effectiveness of interventions for parents of preterm infants on parental and infant outcomes. Methods: We conducted a comprehensive search of the following databases to identify relevant SRs: Cochrane library, Web of science, EMBASE, CINAHL, British Nursing Index, PsycINFO, Medline, ScienceDirect, Scopus, IBSS, DOAJ, ERIC, EPPI-Centre, PROSPERO, WHO Library. Additional searches were conducted using authors’ institutional libraries, Google Scholar, and the reference lists of identified reviews. Identified articles were screened in two stages against an inclusion criteria with titles and abstracts screened first followed by full-text screening. Selected SRs were appraised using the AMSTAR tool. Extracted data using a predesigned tool were synthesised narratively examining the direction of impact on outcomes. Results: We found 11 SRs eligible for inclusion that synthesised a total of 343 quantitative primary studies. The average quality of the SRs was ‘medium’. Thirty four interventions were reported across the SRs with considerable heterogeneity in the structural framework and the targeted outcomes that included maternal-infant dyadic, maternal/parental, and infant outcomes. Among all interventions, Kangaroo Care (KC) showed the most frequent positive impact across outcomes (n = 19) followed by Mother Infant Transaction Program (MITP) (n = 14). Other interventions with most consistent positive impact on infant outcomes were Modified-Mother Infant Transaction Program (M-MITP) (n = 6), Infant Health and Development Program (IHDP) (n = 5) and Creating Opportunities for Parent Empowerment (COPE) (n = 5). Overall, interventions with both home and facility based components showed the most frequent positive impact across outcomes. Conclusions: Neonatal care policy and planning for preterm babies should consider the implementation of interventions with most positive impact on outcomes. The heterogeneity in interventions and outcomes calls for the development and implementation of an integrated program for parents of preterm infants with a clearly defined global set of parental and infant outcomes