Optimal control of a revenue management system with dynamic pricing facing linear demand

This paper considers a dynamic pricing problem over a finite horizon where demand for a product is a time‐varying linear function of price. It is assumed that at the start of the horizon there is a fixed amount of the product available. The decision problem is to determine the optimal price at each time period in order to maximize the total revenue generated from the sale of the product. In order to obtain structural results we formulate the decision problem as an optimal control problem and solve it using Pontryagin's principle. For those problems which are not easily solvable when formulated as an optimal control problem, we present a simple convergent algorithm based on Pontryagin's principle that involves solving a sequence of very small quadratic programming (QP) problems. We also consider the case where the initial inventory of the product is a decision variable. We then analyse the two‐product version of the problem where the linear demand functions are defined in the sense of Bertrand and we again solve the problem using Pontryagin's principle. A special case of the optimal control problem is solved by transforming it into a linear complementarity problem. For the two‐product problem we again present a simple algorithm that involves solving a sequence of small QP problems and also consider the case where the initial inventory levels are decision variables. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

三康胶囊对高原移居者运动后NO乳酸及血氨的影响

目的探讨三康胶囊对高原人体运动后一氧化氮(NO)及其合酶(NOS)、乳酸(BLA)、血氨(Ammo)的影响.方法选择进驻海拔3 700 m高原1年的10名健康青年,口服三康胶囊15 d,在服药前后分别采用功量自行车进行渐增负荷运动,测定其血清 NO、NOS、BLA及Ammo含量.结果服药后较服药前运动后NO水平[(101.02±6.49) Vs (77.10±8.11)]和NOS活性[(71.40±7.23) Vs (56.29±6.28)]均增高, BLA[(7.58±0.79)Vs (6.13±0.74)]和Ammo[(80.11±9.44)Vs (69.38±8.86)]降低,有非常显著性差异(P＜0.01).结论 三康胶囊能增强高原移居者运动后NOS活性,加速乳酸清除,减缓运动疲劳的发生.     

Ischaemic episodes of less than 5 minutes produce preconditioning but not stunning in the isolated rat heart

The aim of the present study was to examine whether ischaemic episodes of less than 5 min could induce preconditioning or stunning in the isolated rat heart. Hearts were subjected to total global ischaemia of 1, 2 and 4 min followed by 10 min of reperfusion before an 18-min main ischaemic period and 30 min of reperfusion. The effects on physiology, purine metabolism and anaerobic glycolysis were compared with a control group subjected to the main ischaemia only. The brief ischaemic episodes did not produce stunning based on the recovery of left ventricular developed pressure (LVDP) and heart rate (HR) product during the first reperfusion. Preconditioning of 11–14% increased recovery of LVDP x HR during the second reperfusion was observed in the 1- and 4-min group. In the 2-min group a low repayment of flow debt during the first reperfusion was associated with a slightly reduced recovery of LVDP x HR compared to the other preconditioned groups during the second reperfusion. Only in the 4-min group was preconditioning associated with fewer breakdown products of the purine nucleotide pool (adenosine) and anaerobic glycolysis (lactate) in both tissue and effluate after the main ischaemia. Preconditioning (reflected in recovery of function) could be produced with ischaemic episodes of less than 5 min that did not produce stunning. Thus, stunning is probably not the primary cause of preconditioning.     

Understanding AIDS: historical interpretations and the limits of biomedical individualism.

The popular and scientific understanding of acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) in the United States has been shaped by successive historical constructions or paradigms of disease. In the first paradigm, AIDS was conceived of as a "gay plague," by analogy with the sudden, devastating epidemics of the past. In the second, AIDS was normalized as a chronic disease to be managed medically over the long term. By examining and extending critiques of both paradigms, it is possible to discern the emergence of an alternative paradigm of AIDS as a collective chronic infectious disease and persistent pandemic. Each of these constructions of AIDS incorporates distinct views of the etiology, prevention, pathology, and treatment of disease; each tacitly promotes different conceptions of the proper allocation of individual and social responsibility for AIDS. This paper focuses on individualistic vs collective, and biomedical vs social and historical, understandings of disease. It analyzes the use of individualism as methodology and as ideology, criticizes some basic assumptions of the biomedical model, and discusses alternative strategies for scientific research, health policy, and disease prevention.     

The phonological system of a specifically language-impaired population

This paper provides a characterization of the phonological system of a family of specifically language-impaired (SLI) individuals. Morphological and syntactic data from these same subjects have previously been presented in Gopnik and Crago (1991) and Guilfoyle (1991). Data were collected from eight subjects, all family members, ranging from 7 to 46 years of age. Language samples were obtained at two sessions, 17 months apart, and analysed according to a revised version of the phonological assessment procedures outlined in Ingram (1981, 1989). Results indicated that these SLI subjects acquired the phonological inventory of English following the normal developmental sequence, but at an extremely delayed rate. In contrast, these subjects never achieved adult competency in reproducing the complex syllable patterns of English, as evidenced by the fact that consonants in syllable-final position and clusters were particularly susceptible to deletion or substitution errors. It is argued that these data are consistent with a linguistically based account of this impairment, which is manifested in the phonological component by the inability to construct learned, language-specific rules.     

Aberrant crypt focus promotion and glucose intolerance: correlation in the rat across diets differing in fat, n-3 fatty acids and energy

McKeown-Eyssen (Cancer Epidemiol. Biomarkers Prevent., 3, 687-695, 1994) and Giovannucci (Cancer Causes Control, 6, 164-179, 1995), noting the striking similarity in lifestyle risk factors for colorectal cancer and insulin resistance, proposed that the hyperinsulinemia, glycemia and hypertriglyceridemia associated with insulin resistance promotes colon cancer. To compare the effect of diet on colon cancer promotion and insulin resistance in the F344 rat, we assessed the effect of fat, n-3 fatty acids and energy in pairwise comparisons on average size of aberrant crypt foci (ACF) and on glucose intolerance in the same animals in a single experiment. Diets high in fat and energy increased and diets with increased n-3 fatty acids and calorie restriction decreased both ACF growth and glucose intolerance compared with control diets. The measures of promotion of colon cancer and insulin resistance were strongly correlated (n = 98, r = 0.67, P < 0.001). In addition, both were highly correlated with daily energy intake (r = 0.62 and 0.66) and were also correlated with basal (post-prandial) insulin, glucose and triglycerides (r = 0.31-0.53, P < 0.01). We concluded that ACF growth and glucose intolerance are correlated for a wide range of diets and that increased circulating energy (glucose and triglycerides) may lead to both colon cancer promotion and insulin resistance.      

Immunization using autologous dendritic cells pulsed with the melanoma-associated antigen gp100-derived G280-9V peptide elicits CD8+ immunity.

PURPOSE: To determine the toxicity, maximal tolerated dose, and clinical and immunologic response to autologous dendritic cells pulsed with melanoma-associated antigen gp100-derived G280-9V peptide. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Twelve HLA-A*0201(+) patients with advanced melanoma were administered dendritic cells pulsed with G280-9V peptide. Cohorts of three patients were administered 5 x 10(6), 15 x 10(6), and 50 x 10(6) cells i.v. every 3 weeks for six doses according to a dose escalation scheme. Three additional patients were treated at the highest dose. No additional cytokines or therapies were coadministered. The immunogenicity of G280-9V-pulsed dendritic cells was measured by IFN-gamma ELISPOT assay, tetramer assay, and (51)Cr release assay comparing prevaccination to postvaccination blood samples. Response to treatment was assessed by Response Evaluation Criteria in Solid Tumors. RESULTS: CD8(+) immunity to the native G280 was observed in 8 (67%) patients as measured by ELISPOT and in 12 (100%) patients as measured by tetramer assay. Of the 9 patients tested, 9 (100%) had measurable high-avidity CTL activity as defined by lysis of allogeneic melanoma lines, which coexpress HLA-A*0201 and gp100. The median follow-up of the entire cohort is 43.8 months. Two (17%) partial responses were observed and 3 (25%) patients had stable disease. The median survival of the treated population was 37.6 months. At this time, three patients are alive, including one patient who continues to respond without additional treatment. CONCLUSION: The high rate of immunization as measured by three independent assays and the occurrence of clinical regression support continued investigation of G280-9V peptide as a candidate epitope in melanoma vaccine formulations.