论文速递 | MSOM 3月文章合集（上）

编者按

在本系列文章中，我们梳理了运筹学顶刊MSOM24年3月份发布的19篇文章的基本信息，旨在帮助读者快速洞察行业最新动态。本文为第一部分。

推荐文章1

● 题目：Frontiers in Operations: The Confidence Trap in Operations Management Practices: Anatomy of Man-Made Disasters

运筹学前沿：运营管理实践中的信心陷阱：人为灾难的解剖

● 原文链接：https://doi.org/10.1287/msom.2023.0034

● 作者：Akhil Bhardwaj, Henk Akkermans 

● 发布时间：1 Mar 2024

● 摘要：

• Problem definition: Reducing the likelihood of man-made disasters that cause harm to life, property, and the environment is a key societal goal. To that end, regulatory agencies are responsible for ensuring man-made disasters do not occur. In practice, to accomplish this task, regulators have to rely on and cooperate with operators. However, how much cooperation is optimal? In this study, we explore the prudent level of cooperation between operators and regulators to avoid man-made disasters and the role whistleblowers and other policy levers can play in maintaining it within a Goldilocks range.

• 问题定义：减少对生命、财产和环境造成伤害的人为灾难发生的可能性是一个重要的社会目标。为此，监管机构负责确保人为灾难不会发生。在实践中，为了完成这项任务，监管机构必须依靠并与运营商合作。然而，合作到什么程度是最优的？在这项研究中，我们探讨了运营商和监管机构之间避免人为灾难所需的谨慎合作水平，以及告密者和其他政策杠杆在维持这种合作在一个恰到好处范围内所能发挥的作用。

• Methodology/Results: We synthesize various theories and accounts of man-made disasters to construct a system dynamics model of the mechanisms that lead up to these unwanted outcomes. We employ simulations to uncover how changes in crucial parameters related to cooperation lead to different outcomes and influence the likelihood of the occurrence of man-made disasters.

• 方法论/结果：我们综合了各种关于人为灾难的理论和描述，构建了一个系统动力学模型，描述了导致这些不良结果的机制。我们使用模拟方法揭示了与合作相关的关键参数的变化如何导致不同的结果，并影响人为灾难发生的可能性。

• Managerial implications: We resist explanations for man-made disasters rooted in regulatory capture and offer instead a nuanced account rooted in excess cooperation between operators and regulators emerging as a result of everyday operational imperatives and constraints. Our findings indicate that absence of disasters leads operators and regulators to fall into a “confidence trap” that perpetuates limited regulatory oversight and excess cooperation and eventually leads to a disaster. To mitigate this tendency, we investigate, in particular, the role that timely whistleblowing and other policy levers can play in mitigating man-made disasters. We provide managerial and policy implications such as incentivizing and safeguarding whistleblowers, limits on the revolving door between operators and regulators, and more stringent operating and safety scientific standards. Overall, we offer a new frame and potentially fruitful frontier for the operations management community to explore.

• 管理意义：我们没有将人为灾难的解释根源归结于监管捕获，而是提供了一种更细致的解释，提出根源在于运营商和监管机构之间的过度合作，这是日常运营和约束的必然结果。

  • 我们的研究结果表明，灾难的缺席导致运营商和监管机构陷入“信心陷阱”，导致监管监督有限和合作过度，并最终导致灾难的发生。

  • 为了减轻这种倾向，我们特别调查了及时举报和其他政策手段在减轻人为灾难中可以发挥的作用。我们提出了管理和政策启示，例如激励和保护举报人，限制运营商和监管机构之间的职业轮转，以及更严格的运营和安全科学标准。总的来说，我们为运营管理界提供了一个新的框架和可能富有成果的前沿领域。

推荐文章2

● 题目：Aggregating Distributed Energy Resources: Efficiency and Market Power

汇集分布式能源资源：效率与市场力量

● 原文链接：https://doi.org/10.1287/msom.2021.0539

● 作者：Zuguang Gao, Khaled Alshehri, John R. Birge 

● 发布时间：1 Mar 2024

● 摘要：

• Problem definition: The rapid expansion of distributed energy resources (DERs) is one of the most significant changes to electricity systems around the world. Examples of DERs include solar panels, electric storage, thermal storage, and combined heat and power plants. Because of the small supply capacities of these DERs, it is impractical for them to participate directly in the wholesale electricity market. We study in this paper the question of how to integrate these DER supplies into the electricity market, with the objective of achieving full market efficiency.

• 问题定义：分布式能源资源（DERs）的快速扩展是世界各地电力系统最显著的变化之一。DERs的示例包括太阳能电池板、电能存储、热能存储和联合发电厂。由于这些DER的小型供应能力，它们无法直接参与大宗电力市场。本文研究如何将这些DER供应整合到电力市场中，以实现完全的市场效率为目标。

• Methodology/results: We study four aggregation models, where there is an aggregator who, with the knowledge of DERs’ utility functions and generations, procures electricity from DERs, and sells them in the wholesale market. In the first aggregation model, a profit-maximizing aggregator announces a differential two-part pricing policy to the DER owners. We show that this model preserves full market efficiency, that is, the social welfare achieved by this model is the same as that when DERs participate directly in the wholesale market. In the second aggregation model, the profit-seeking aggregator is forced to impose a uniform two-part pricing policy to prosumers from the same location, and we numerically show that there can be large efficiency loss. In the third (fourth) aggregation model, a uniform (semiuniform) two-part pricing policy is applied to DER owners, whereas the aggregator becomes fully regulated but is guaranteed nonnegative (positive) profit. It is shown that these models again achieve full market efficiency. Furthermore, we show that DER aggregation also leads to a reduction in the market power of conventional generators.

• 方法论/结果：我们研究了四种聚合模型，其中有一个聚合器，他知道DER的效用函数和发电量，从DER那里采购电力，并在大宗市场上销售。

  • 在第一种聚合模型中，一个以利润最大化为目标的聚合器对DER所有者实施差别化的两部分定价政策。我们展示的这个模型保留了完全的市场效率，也就是说，这个模型实现的社会福利与DER直接参与大宗市场时实现的社会福利相同。

  • 在第二种聚合模型中，以追求利润为目标的聚合器被迫向同一位置的生产者实施统一的两部分定价政策，我们通过数值分析表明，这可能会出现较大的效率损失。

  • 在第三（第四）种聚合模型中，对DER所有者采用统一（半统一）的两部分定价政策，而聚合器则变为完全受监管，但保证非负（正）利润。结果表明，这些模型再次实现了完全的市场效率。此外，我们还表明DER聚合还导致传统发电厂的市场力量减少。

  • Managerial implications: DER aggregation via profit-seeking and/or regulated aggregators has been investigated by California Independent System Operator and New York Independent System Operator, among others, and the recent Federal Energy Regulatory Commission Order No. 2222 paved the way for aggregators to bid in the wholesale market. Our four aggregation models may shed light on how DERs should be included in the wholesale electricity market.

  • 管理意义：加利福尼亚州独立系统运营商和纽约州独立系统运营商等机构已经对通过追求利润和/或受监管的聚合器进行DER聚合进行了调查，而最近的联邦能源监管委员会第2222号令为聚合器在大宗市场中竞标铺平了道路。我们的四种聚合模型可能会揭示DER应该如何纳入大宗电力市场。

推荐文章3

● 题目：Frontiers in Operations: Waiting Experience in Open-Shop Service Networks: Improvements via Flow Analytics and Automation

运筹学前沿：开放式服务网络中的等待体验：通过流量分析和自动化改进

● 原文链接：https://doi.org/10.1287/msom.2022.0590

● 作者：Manlu Chen, Opher Baron, Avishai Mandelbaum, Jianfu Wang, Galit B. Yom-Tov, Nadir Arber

● 发布时间：4 Mar 2024

● 摘要：

• Problem definition: We study open-shop service networks where customers go through multiple services. We were motivated by a partnering health screening clinic, where customers are routed by a dispatcher and operational performance is measured at two levels: micro-level, via waits for individual services, and macro-level, via overall wait. Both measures reflect customer experience and could support its management. Our analysis revealed that waits were long and increased along the service process. Such long waits give rise to negative waiting experience and the increasing shape is detrimental as it is known to create perceived waits that are even longer. Our goal is hence to analyze strategies that shape and improve customers’ perceived experience.

• 问题定义：我们研究客户需要经历多个服务环节的开放式服务网络。我们受到一个健康检查诊所的启发，通过两个级别来衡量运营绩效：

  • 微观级别，个别服务的等待时间；

  • 宏观级别，整体的等待时间。

  • 这两个度量能够反映客户体验。我们的分析显示，等待时间很长，并且随着服务过程的进行而增加。这种长时间的等待会导致消极的等待体验，因此，我们的目标是分析塑造和改善客户感知体验的策略。

• Methodology/results: Analytically, we use a stylized two-station open-shop network to show that prioritizing advanced customers, jointly with pooling (virtual) queues, can improve both macro- and micro-level performance. We validate these findings with a simulation model, calibrated with our clinic’s data. Practically, we find that an automated routing system (ARS), recently implemented in the clinic, had a negligible impact on overall wait—It simply redistributed waiting among wait-for-routing and wait-for-service. However, ARS renders applicable sophisticated priority and routing policies (that were infeasible under the manual routing practice), specifically the ones arising from the present research.

• 方法论/结果：在分析上，我们使用一个简化的两站开放式网络来表明，优先考虑提前到达的顾客，并结合虚拟队列的使用，可以同时改善宏观和微观水平的性能。我们通过建模仿真验证了这些发现，并使用我们诊所的数据进行了校验。在实践中，我们发现，自动寻路系统（ARS）在对本诊所的总等待时间影响微乎其微——它只是简单地重新分配了等待时间，包括等待路由和等待服务。然而，ARS使得设计复杂的优先和路由政策成为可能。

• Managerial implications: Our study amplifies the performance benefits of accounting for individual customers’ system status in addition to station-level load information. We offer insights into the implementation of new technologies: Firms better plan for fundamental changes in their operation rather than harness new technology to their existing operation, which may be suboptimal due to past technical limitations.

• 管理意义：我们的研究除了强调站点等级的负载信息外，也考虑到个别客户系统状态的性能优势。我们提供了关于实施新技术的见解：由于过去的技术限制，将新技术应用于其现有运营中可能而不是最优的，企业最好还是从本身运营的变化出发进行规划。

推荐文章4

● 题目：Multiportfolio Optimization: A Fairness-Aware Target-Oriented Model

多投资组合优化：一个关注公平的目标导向模型

● 原文链接：https://doi.org/10.1287/msom.2021.0363

● 作者：Xiaoqiang Cai, Daniel Zhuoyu Long, Gen Yu, Lianmin Zhang 

● 发布时间：5 Mar 2024

● 摘要：

• Problem definition: We consider a multi-portfolio optimization problem in which nonlinear market impact costs result in a strong dependency of one account’s performance on the trading activities of the other accounts.

• 问题定义：我们考虑一个多组合优化问题，其中非线性市场对成本的影响会导致账户的表现强烈依赖于其他账户的交易活动。

• Methodology/results: We develop a novel target-oriented model that jointly optimizes the rebalancing trades and the split of market impact costs. The key advantages of our proposed model include the consideration of clients’ targets on investment returns and the incorporation of distributional uncertainty. The former helps fund managers to circumvent the difficulty in identifying clients’ utility functions or risk parameters, whereas the latter addresses a practical challenge that the probability distribution of risky asset returns cannot be fully observed. Specifically, to evaluate the quality of multiple portfolios’ investment payoffs in achieving targets, we propose a new class of performance measures, called fairness-aware multiparticipant satisficing (FMS) criteria. These criteria can be extended to encompass distributional uncertainty and have the salient feature of addressing the fairness issue with the collective satisficing level as determined by the least satisfied participant. We find that, structurally, the FMS criteria have a dual connection with a set of risk measures. For multiportfolio optimization, we consider the FMS criterion with conditional value-at-risk being the underlying risk measure to further account for the magnitude of shortfalls against targets. The resulting problem, although nonconvex, can be solved efficiently by solving an equivalent converging sequence of tractable subproblems.

• 方法论/结果：

  • 我们开发了一种新颖的目标导向模型，该模型同时优化再平衡交易和成本分配。模型充分考虑到客户投资回报的目标和纳入分布不确定性。前者帮助基金经理规避了识别客户效用函数或风险参数的困难，而后者解决了一个实际挑战，即无法完全观察到风险资产回报的概率分布。

  • 具体来说，为了评估多个投资组合在实现目标方面的投资回报，我们提出了一种新的性能度量类别，称为关注公平的多参与者满足（FMS）标准。这些标准可以扩展到分布不确定性，并具有解决公平问题的显著特征（由最不满意的参与者确定的集体满足水平）。

  • 我们发现，结构上，FMS标准与一组风险度量具有相互影响的关系。对于多组合优化，我们考虑了FMS标准，其中条件风险价值是基础风险度量，进一步考虑了与目标之间差距的大小。虽然由此产生的问题非凸，但我们可以通过解决一系列可解的子问题的等效收敛序列来有效地解决此问题。

• Managerial implications: For the multiportfolio optimization problem, the numerical study shows that our approach outperforms utility-based models in achieving targets and in out-of-sample performance. More generally, the proposed FMS criteria provide a new decision framework for operational problems in which the decision makers are target-oriented rather than being utility maximizers and issues of fairness and ambiguity should be considered.

• 管理意义：对于多组合优化问题，数值研究表明，我们的方法在实现目标和样本外表现方面优于基于效用的模型。更一般地，提出的FMS标准为操作问题提供了一个新的决策框架，其中决策者是以目标为导向而不是以效用最大化，并且应该考虑公平性和模糊性问题。

推荐文章5

● 题目：Improving Farmers’ Income on Online Agri-Platforms: Evidence from the Field

提高农民在在线农业平台上的收入：来自田野的证据

● 原文链接：https://doi.org/10.1287/msom.2022.0437

● 作者：Retsef Levi, Manoj Rajan, Somya Singhvi, Yanchong Zheng

● 发布时间：6 Mar 2024

● 摘要：

• Problem definition: To improve the welfare of smallholder farmers, multiple countries (e.g., Ethiopia and India) have launched online agri-platforms to transform traditional markets. However, there is still mixed evidence regarding the impact of these platforms and, more generally, how they can be leveraged to enable more efficient agricultural supply chains and markets. This paper describes work conducted in close collaboration with the state government of Karnataka, India, to design, implement, and assess the impact of a new two-stage auction on the state’s online agri-platform, the United Market Platform (UMP).

• 问题定义：为了改善小农户的福利，多个国家（如埃塞俄比亚和印度）推出了在线农业平台以改变传统市场。然而，关于这些平台的影响，或者说，如何利用它们来实现更高效的农业供应链和市场，仍存在着不一致的答案。本文描述了与印度卡纳塔克邦政府密切合作的工作，设计、实施和评估了该邦在线农业平台“联合市场平台”（UMP）上新的两阶段拍卖的影响。

• Methodology/results: To ensure implementability and protect farmers’ revenue, the auction design is guided by practical operational considerations, as well as semistructured interviews with a majority of the traders in the field. A new behavioral auction model informed by the field insights is developed to determine when the proposed two-stage auction can generate a higher revenue for farmers than the traditional single-stage, first-price, sealed-bid auction. The new auction mechanism was implemented on the UMP for a major market of lentils in February 2019. By the end of May 2019, commodities worth more than $6 million (USD) had been traded under the new auction. A difference-in-differences analysis demonstrates that the implementation has yielded a significant 3.6% price increase (corresponding to a 55%–94% profit gain) for over 10,000 farmers who traded in the treatment market.

• 方法论/结果：为确保可实施性并保护农民的收入，拍卖设计遵循实际运营考虑和与该领域大多数交易商进行的访谈。我们制定了一种新的行为拍卖模型，以确定所提议的两阶段拍卖何时能为农民带来比传统拍卖（单阶段、第一价格、密封式竞标）更高的收入。新的拍卖机制于2019年2月在UMP上实施。截至2019年5月底，超过600万美元的商品在新的拍卖下交易。差异分析表明，该实施使得在治疗市场交易的10,000多名农民中的价格显著增加了3.6%（相当于55%至94%的利润增长）。

• Managerial implications: The results from this paper offer tangible lessons on how innovative price discovery mechanisms could be enabled by online agri-platforms in resource-constrained environments. Importantly, the success of these designs critically depends on careful considerations of systemic operational and behavioral factors that affect trades in the physical markets.

• 管理意义：本文的结果提供了关于如何通过在线农业平台在资源受限的环境中实现创新价格发现机制的实质启示。这种设计的成功在很大程度上取决于对影响实物市场交易的系统运营和对行为因素的慎重考虑。

推荐文章6

● 题目：Retail Category Management with Slotting Fees

零售类别管理与货位费用

● 原文链接：https://doi.org/10.1287/msom.2022.0143

● 作者：Yasin Alan, Mümin Kurtuluş, Alper Nakkas

● 发布时间：6 Mar 2024

● 摘要：

• Problem definition: Slotting fees are lump-sum payments retailers demand from manufacturers to include manufacturers’ products in their assortments. Although retailers regard slotting fees as part of doing business, some manufacturers claim that slotting fees limit their ability to compete on a level playing field with other manufacturers. Considering these conflicting views, we study the role of manufacturer competition in the emergence of slotting fees and how slotting fees affect retailers’ category management (i.e., assortment and pricing) decisions.

• 问题定义：货位费是零售商要求制造商支付的一笔总额费用，以将制造商的产品纳入其产品组合中。虽然零售商将货位费视为业务的一部分，但一些制造商声称，货位费限制了他们在与其他制造商公平竞争的能力。考虑到这些相互冲突的观点，我们研究货位费在制造商竞争中的作用，以及货位费如何影响零售商的类别管理决策。

• Methodology/results: We consider a game-theoretic model with a single retailer and two competing manufacturers, each offering a single product. The retailer makes slotting fee, assortment, and pricing decisions in the presence of an operational cost term that increases in the assortment size. The manufacturers that can afford the slotting fee set the wholesale prices for their products. This study leads to three key findings. First, slotting fees can be suboptimal when their absence would trigger intense wholesale price competition. Second, depending on the retailer’s operational cost and the intensity of manufacturer competition, slotting fees create three distinct effects -category expansion, rent extraction, and competitive exclusion under which product variety (i.e., the retailer’s assortment size) increases, remains unchanged, and decreases, respectively. Third, slotting fees are most (least) beneficial for the retailer when they lead to a decrease (increase) in product variety.

• 方法论/结果：我们考虑了一个博弈论模型，其中有一个单一的零售商和两个竞争的制造商，每个制造商提供一种产品。在考虑到一个随着组合规模增加而增加的运营成本项的情况下，零售商在货位费、组合和定价方面做出决策。能够支付货位费的制造商会为其产品设定批发价格。这项研究得出了三个关键发现。首先，货位费可能是次优的，因为货位费的缺失会引发激烈的批发价格竞争。其次，依赖于零售商的运营成本和制造商竞争的强度，货位费产生三种不同的效应——类别扩张、租金提取和竞争性排斥，在这三种情况下产品种类（即零售商的组合规模）分别增加、保持不变和减少。第三，当货位费导致产品种类减少（增加）时，货位费对零售商最有利（最不利）。

• Managerial implications: This study not only illustrates that retailers can use slotting fees as a strategic tool to control the intensity of manufacturer competition but also reveals how slotting fees impact retailers’ assortment and pricing decisions, with implications for manufacturers and policy makers.

• 管理意义：这项研究不仅阐明了零售商可以将货位费用作为一种战略工具来控制制造商竞争的强度，还揭示了货位费用如何影响零售商的组合和定价决策，对制造商和政策制定者具有重要意义。

推荐文章7

● 题目：Optimal Consolidation of Polling Locations

投票地点的最优合并

● 原文链接：https://doi.org/10.1287/msom.2022.0497

● 作者：Adam P. Schmidt, Duncan Buell, Laura A. Albert 

● 发布时间：7 Mar 2024

● 摘要：

• Problem definition: Many logistical and financial challenges of facilitating an election lead election officials to consolidate polling locations. However, determining when it is appropriate to consolidate polling locations and how to consolidate polling locations, if necessary, is a difficult and high-stakes decision that influences voter participation.

• 问题定义：预算限制导致选举官员将投票地点合并。然而，确定何时适合合并投票地点以及如何在必要时合并投票地点，是一个困难且影响选民参与的高风险决策。

• Methodology/results: We formalize the set of constraints and criteria that election officials should follow as the polling location consolidation problem (PLCP), which is formulated as an integer programming model. The PLCP simultaneously selects which polling locations will be used in the upcoming election, reassigns voter precincts to polling locations, and allocates critical resources to the selected polling locations. The PLCP minimizes the increased distance that voters must travel to their updated polling location. Because empirical research also demonstrates the importance of reducing the voters’ wait times, we require that most voters do not wait longer than a prespecified limit, such as 30 minutes, using a chance constraint. We prove that identifying a feasible solution to PLCP is NP-complete, which demonstrates the difficulty in making consolidation decisions, as well as the importance of optimization for this problem.

• 方法论/结果：我们将选举官员应遵循的约束标准化为投票地点合并问题（PLCP），并将其构建为整数规划模型。PLCP会在考虑选民选区和资源分配的同时，选择将在即将到来的选举中使用的投票地点。解决PLCP就是要最小化选民必须前往其新的投票地点的增加距离。由于实证研究还表明减少选民等待时间的重要性，我们要求大多数选民不要等待超过预先的限制（如30分钟）。我们证明了识别PLCP的可行解是NP-complete的，这表明做出这一合并决策的困难，以及优化对于这个问题的重要性。

• Managerial implications: This paper introduces a structured and transparent approach to support election officials in making informed, data-driven decisions regarding how and when to consolidate polling locations that minimally impact voters and encourage voter participation. The approach could be used to develop preapproved contingency plans that could be employed if there are major disruptions to an election.

• 管理意义：本文介绍了一种结构化且透明的方法，支持选举官员做出明智的、数据驱动的决策，以便决定何时以及如何合并投票地点，以最大程度地减少对选民的影响并促进选民参与。这种方法可以用来制定应急计划，以便在选举遭受重大干扰时使用。

推荐文章8

● 题目：Collaborative Vehicle-to-Grid Operations in Frequency Regulation Markets

在频率调节市场中的协作式车辆电网运营（电动汽车（EVs）在电网（V2G）系统中为电网提供频率调节服务的运营情况）

● 原文链接：https://doi.org/10.1287/msom.2022.0133

● 作者：Ho-Yin Mak, Runyu Tang 

● 发布时间：12 Mar 2024

● 摘要：

• Problem definition: We study the operations of electric vehicles (EVs) providing frequency regulation services to the electric grid in vehicle-to-grid (V2G) systems. In particular, individually owned EVs collaboratively bid in the regulation market, coordinated by a platform that operates the network of charging equipment. We study how the platform determines optimal pricing incentives for drivers to plug in their EVs, accounting for heterogeneous driving schedules.

• 问题定义：我们研究了电动汽车（EVs）在V2G系统中为电网提供频率调节服务的运营情况。具体来说，在负责运营充电设备网络的平台的协调下，个体拥有的电动汽车会在调节市场上协作竞标。我们研究了平台如何确定最佳定价激励措施以激励司机对电车充电。

• Methodology/results: We model the platform’s pricing optimization problem as a bilevel program: At the upper level, the platform determines hourly rebates for EV owners to plug in their EVs and capacity bids in the regulation market; at the lower level, individual travelers optimize their travel and charging schedules in response to pricing incentives. To account for uncertainties and heterogeneity in regulation market prices and travel patterns, we adopt distributionally robust optimization techniques to formulate the problem as a mixed-integer second-order cone program. We conduct a computational study based on the California Household Travel Survey data set and actual frequency regulation prices. Our results show that the ability to offer time-varying rebates and install workplace chargers can significantly improve the V2G platform’s expected profits.

• 方法论/结果：我们将平台的定价优化问题建模为一个两层的规划问题：在上层，平台为电车车主决定每小时的充电返利，并在调控市场上进行容量竞标；在下层，个体旅行者根据平台的定价激励，优化其旅行和充电时间表。为了考虑调控市场价格和出行模式的不确定性和异质性，我们采用了分布鲁棒优化方法将问题建模为一个混合整数二阶锥规划。我们基于加州家庭出行调查数据集和实际频率调节价格进行了计算研究。我们的结果表明，提供时变返利，并在工作场所安装充电桩可以显著提高 V2G 平台的预期利润。

• Managerial implications: As EV adoption progresses past the nascent stage, V2G business models become more viable. Successful implementation of V2G provides economic incentive for switching to EVs, potentially helps sustain adoption growth, and complements the growth of renewable power by helping stabilize the grid. Our findings shed light on the design of driver incentives for V2G systems.

• 管理意义：随着电动汽车的采用逐渐迈入进阶阶段，V2G业务模式变得更加可行。成功实施V2G为电动汽车模式的转变提供了经济激励，并通过帮助稳定电网来补充可再生能源的增长。我们的研究结果为V2G系统的驾驶员激励设计提供了启示。

推荐文章9

● 题目：Service Quality Implications of Long Periods of Consecutive Working Days: An Empirical Study of Neonatal Intensive Care Nursing Teams

连续工作多日对服务质量的影响：新生儿重症护理团队的实证研究

● 原文链接：https://doi.org/10.1287/msom.2022.0021

● 作者：F. Miedaner, L. Kuntz, K. Eilermann, B. Roth, S. Scholtes 

● 发布时间：12 Mar 2024

● 摘要：

• Problem definition: We examine the effects of prolonged consecutive working days without breaks on care quality and explore its association with daily staffing levels in neonatal intensive care nursing teams.

• 问题定义：我们研究了医护人员连续工作多日而没有休息的情况对护理质量的影响，并探讨了这一现象与新生儿重症护理团队人员配备水平的关联。

• Academic/practical relevance: Healthcare organizations typically base staffing guidelines on safe daily metrics like nurse-to-patient ratios. However, in response to unforeseen demand spikes or staff shortages, managers often depend on staff working additional consecutive days to bridge staffing gaps. This approach, although addressing immediate staffing needs, can inadvertently impact care quality and safety, potentially undermining the benefits of higher staffing levels.

• 学术/实践相关性：医疗组织通常以安全的日常指标（如护士与患者的比例）制定人员配备的指导方针。然而，面对突发需求激增或人员短缺的情况，管理者通常依赖于让员工连续工作更多天，来弥补人员配备上的差距。尽管这种方法解决了即时的人员配备需求，但可能会无意中影响护理质量和安全，潜在地削弱了人员配备带来的好处。

• Methodology: Using longitudinal data from 62 German neonatal units, we analyze the effect of nursing teams’ consecutive working days on the time from admission to full enteral feeding for 847 low-birth-weight babies, considering nurse-to-patient ratios and patient complexity.

• 方法论：利用来自62家德国新生儿单位的纵向数据，我们分析了护理团队连续工作的天数对847名低出生体重婴儿从入院到完全肠内喂养所需时间的影响，考虑了护士与患者的比例和患者复杂性。

• Results: Longer consecutive working periods harmfully affect care quality, especially during staffing shortages. The detrimental impact on days with low staffing is particularly pronounced in patients with less complex medical needs. Limiting the team-average number of consecutive working days to two days would have reduced the time to full enteral feeding in our study by 6.4%. Shifting from half a day less to half a day more than the average number of consecutive working days has an impact equal to 20% of the difference in time taken to reach full enteral feeding between low- and high-birth-weight babies.

• 结果：较长的连续工作期对护理质量产生了不利影响（尤其是在人员短缺时）。在人员短缺的日子里，护理质量的不利影响在患者医疗需求较低的情况下尤为显著。限制团队平均连续工作天数为两天，将使新生儿的肠内喂养时间减少6.4%。连续工作天数从少于半天到多于半天对患者影响程度的差异，相当于低出生体重婴儿和高出生体重婴儿达到完全肠内喂养所需时间之间差异的20%。

• Managerial implications: Limiting consecutive working days could significantly improve intensive care outcomes. Management should monitor consecutive working days alongside daily staffing levels. Policy makers should consider introducing limits on the number of consecutive working days for intensive care nurses.

• 管理意义：限制连续工作天数可以显著改善重症监护结果。管理层应该在保障日常人员配备水平的同时监控连续工作天数。政策制定者应考虑为重症监护护士引入连续工作天数的限制。

推荐文章10

● 题目：Content Promotion for Online Content Platforms with the Diffusion Effect

在线内容平台的内容推广与扩散效应

● 原文链接：https://doi.org/10.1287/msom.2022.0172

● 作者：Yunduan Lin, Mengxin Wang, Heng Zhang, Renyu Zhang, Zuo-Jun Max Shen 

● 发布时间：13 Mar 2024

● 摘要：

• Problem definition: Content promotion policies are crucial for online content platforms to improve content consumption and user engagement. However, traditional promotion policies generally neglect the diffusion effect within a crowd of users. In this paper, we study the candidate generation and promotion optimization (CGPO) problem for an online content platform, emphasizing the incorporation of the diffusion effect.

• 问题定义：对于在线内容平台来说，内容推广政策对于提升内容消费和用户参与至关重要。然而，传统的推广政策通常忽略了用户群体内部的扩散效应。在本文中，我们研究了在线内容平台的候选生成和推广优化（CGPO）问题，重点是将扩散效应纳入考虑。

• Methodology/results: We propose a diffusion model that incorporates platform promotion decisions to characterize the adoption process of online content. Based on this diffusion model, we formulate the CGPO problem as a mixed-integer program with nonconvex and nonlinear constraints, which is proved to be NP-hard. Additionally, we investigate methods for estimating the diffusion model parameters using available online platform data and introduce novel double ordinary least squares (D-OLS) estimators. We prove the submodularity of the objective function for the CGPO problem, which enables us to find an efficient (1−1/e)-approximation greedy solution. Furthermore, we demonstrate that the D-OLS estimators are consistent and have smaller asymptotic variances than traditional ordinary least squares estimators. By utilizing real data from a large-scale video-sharing platform, we show that our diffusion model effectively characterizes the adoption process of online content. Compared with the policy implemented on the platform, our proposed promotion policy increases total adoptions by 49.90%.

• 方法论/结果：我们提出了一个扩散模型，并将平台推广决策纳入其中，以描述用户对于在线内容的接受过程。基于这个扩散模型，我们将CGPO问题制定为一个具有非凸和非线性约束的混合整数规划问题，并证明它是NP-hard的。此外，我们研究了使用可用的在线平台数据估计扩散模型参数的方法，并引入了新颖的双重普通最小二乘（D-OLS）估计器。我们证明了CGPO问题的目标函数有submodularity的性质，这使我们能够找到一个有效的（1-1/e）-approximation贪心解。此外，我们证明了D-OLS估计器是一致的，并且具有比传统的普通最小二乘估计器更小的渐近方差。通过利用来自大规模视频分享平台的实际数据，我们展示了我们的扩散模型有效地描述了在线内容的采用过程。与平台上实施的政策相比，我们提出的推广策略将总采用量提高了49.90%。

• Managerial implications: Our research highlights the essential role of diffusion in online content and provides actionable insights for online content platforms to optimize their content promotion policies by leveraging our diffusion model.

• 管理意义： 我们的研究强调了扩散在网络内容中的重要作用，并为网络内容平台提供了可行的见解，使其能够利用我们的扩散模型优化内容推广策略。