Game-theoretical Models of a Two-echelon Supply Chain Involving Two Substitutable Products

This paper considers tripartite pricing issues in a two-echelon supply chain involving duopolistic manufacturers and a single retailer.Firstly,a tripartite competitive model is conducted,in which both a Stackelberg game and a Bertrand game occur simultaneously.It is shown that the manufacturer who possesses a higher sales quantity gains more profits than the other one.Secondly,a definition of optimal vertical pricing alliance is proposed when cooperation exists between the retailer and some manufacturer.We conduct two-player games when partial cooperation exists among the three participants.It is demonstrated that the total profit of the alliance is higher than the sum profit of the corresponding two participants in the tripartite competition model,and meanwhile the profit of the manufacturer who is not in the alliance suffers a loss.Further,a criterion is given to judge which manufacturer the retailer will choose to cooperate in order to maximize the total increased profits.From the perspective of game theory,we examine the stability of the vertical alliance with considering the dominance of the retailer.Finally,a numerical illustration is designed to examine the judging criteria of which manufacturer is the member of the optimal alliance under different potential market demands.

Optimal Dual-Channel Dynamic Pricing of Perishable Items under Different Attenuation Coefficients of Demands

This paper discusses optimal dual-channel dynamic pricing of a retailer who sells perishable products in a finite horizon.The type of product which is equipped with different attenuation coefficients of demands on different sales channels is considered.Novel demand functions for the two channels are proposed according to attenuation coefficients of demands,and then a decision model is constructed,which can be handled stage-by-stage.It is shown that the sales price and the sales quantity of the channel which possesses more market shares are both higher than the ones of the other channel at each sales stage.More importantly,by analyzing the reasonability of the obtained solution,a necessary and sufficient condition is proposed to guarantee that both of the two channels will not stop selling through the entire period.We also propose an approach by the elimination method to deal with cases in which some channel stops selling.Further,we demonstrate that the channel which possesses more market shares is the optimal option when only one channel runs.Finally,numerical examples are presented to investigate the change of sales prices of the two channels under different market potential demands.

Prediction and analysis of human-herpes simplex virus type 1 protein-protein interactions by integrating multiple methods

Background:Herpes simplex virus type 1(HSV-1)is a ubiquitous infectious pathogen that widely affects human health.To decipher the complicated human-HSV-1 interactions,a comprehensive protein-protein interaction(PPI)network between human and HSV-1 is highly demanded.Methods:To complement the experimental identification of human-HSV-1 PPIs,an integrative strategy to predict proteome-wide PPIs between human and HSV-1 was developed.For each human-HSV-1 protein pair,four popular PPI inference methods,including interolog mapping,the domain-domain interaction-based method,the domain-motif interaction-based method,and the machine learning-based method,were optimally implemented to generate four interaction probability scores,which were further integrated into a final probability score.Results:As a result,a comprehensive high-confidence PPI network between human and HSV-1 was established,covering 10,432 interactions between 4,546 human proteins and 72 HSV-1 proteins.Functional and network analyses of the HSV-1 targeting proteins in the context of human interactome can recapitulate the known knowledge regarding the HSV-1 replication cycle,supporting the overall reliability of the predicted PPI network.Considering that HSV-1 infections are implicated in encephalitis and neurodegenerative diseases,we focused on exploring the biological significance of the brain-specific human-HSV-1 PPIs.In particular,the predicted interactions between HSV-1 proteins and Alzheimer's-disease-related proteins were intensively investigated.Conclusion:The current work can provide testable hypotheses to assist in the mechanistic understanding of the human-HSV-1 relationship and the anti-HSV-1 pharmaceutical target discovery.To make the predicted PPI network and the datasets freely accessible to the scientific community,a user-friendly database browser was released at http://www.zzdlab.com/HintHSV/index.php.